AustralianSuper has negotiated with its insurer to allow members early access to life insurance benefits, in addition to their super balance, in cases where they have less than 24 months to live. The fund’s decision follows recent government changes to regulations, which enable individuals certified to have a terminal medical condition, by two medical practitioners, … Read more
Kate Misic, head of alternatives at Telstra Super, manages 7 per cent of the fund’s assets in private markets and hedge funds. She talks to Investment Magazine about her approach to each asset class. Telstra’s allocation to hedge funds, private equity and private debt eats up a large part of the $17 billion fund’s fee budget, but it is justified … Read more
In-house investment teams are in the ascendancy in fund management. Scott Bunny and John Apthorp of recruitment firm B & K Consulting look into the future and ask if the rewards will satisfy these teams. The debate on in-house management has tended to focus on the costs of external managers and internal teams. This has … Read more
Board’s will need to submit an approved and detailed transition plan to APRA by July 1, 2016 on how they intend to comply with the new, and as yet undefined, requirements for governance, including whether current directors can be considered independent. Many experienced people in superannuation will likely not be classed as independent leaving a … Read more
State Super Financial Services (SSFS) is cautious about the bondification of equites as it can give an unintended bias to interest rate sensitivity. The term has been highlighted in CREATE – Research and Principal Global Investors’ annual global survey of 705 pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, pension consultants and fund buyers, which predicts … Read more
Funds are being accused of gaming the success of their MySuper products by understating the level of growth assets. Analysis by PwC of the strategic asset allocations for 30 funds in the SuperRatings SR 50 Balanced (60-76) index per cent survey has shown a wide variety of interpretation for growth assets. The implications are large. … Read more
The amount of risk taken by Australian based hedge funds has risen steadily over the past four years, according to ASIC’s 2014 hedge fund survey. The median gross leverage ratio of hedge funds has increased from 1.7 times NAV in 2012 to 2 times NAV in 2014 – ASIC says it is watching this figure … Read more
Maree O’Halloran AM, co-trustee of the year, is to step down from her role at HESTA today, where she has served on the investment advisory panel and the remuneration board. O’Halloran, who was named AIST’s joint trustee of the year in March along with Bob Henricks of Energy Super, resigned after she left her role … Read more
The superannuation arms of two major banks issued statements on Friday that said members of APRA regulated funds would be better off having independent chairs for their boards and one third of trustees as independents. Their applause for Josh Frydenburg’s move to change the governance model of super comes at a time when banks are … Read more
Class actions allow a group (or class) of people to bring a single claim against a defendant, and the fastest growing type of class actions are those initiated by investors. Trustees that don’t register for investor class actions are leaving member’s money on the table, says David Galloway, lawyer and fund executive. It might seem … Read more
Chairs of industry funds have reacted with pragmatism to the Government’s move to enforce one third of their boards to be independent and to have an independent chair. Many have already anticipated the change in legislation by hiring their first or second ever independent trustees with the explicit intention of filling skills on their board. … Read more
The Australian superannuation industry has been placed under tremendous pressure from a variety of directions. In recent years it has suffered countless government inquiries into fees charged to members. As guardians of national wealth, some of this attention is expected. In response, industry funds now have an opportunity to prepare for the future and end … Read more
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