Telstra Super to explore collective defined contribution scheme

Telstra Super is to explore the potential to create a collective defined contribution scheme as a way of avoiding sequencing risk for its members. Chris Davies, chief executive of Telstra Super, says the $17.5 billion fund has the scale to tailor its own pooled investment vehicle that would smooth investment outcomes. He believes the fund … Read more

$70bn TCorp to streamline providers

The bond portfolio and manager line of the newly merged $70 billion funds management operation of TCorp will place a  greater reliance on in-house management. The move will come as part of a general review to find the optimal mix of providers for State Super, TCorp and Safety, Return to Work and Support (SRWS) which … Read more

Future Fund pays to end Perth Airport dispute

The Future Fund has paid AustralianSuper $7 million to settle its two year dispute over accusations of improper conduct in the acquisition of a $875 million shareholding in Perth Airport. The acquisition was part of an agreement in 2012 to acquire $2 billion of airport assets from Australian Infrastructure Fund. AustralianSuper claimed that the Future … Read more

BT fined over misleading super claims

BT Funds Management has paid a $20,400 fine to ASIC after it published two misleading claims for BT Super online. In one publication that was live from June 26 to September 18 2014, it claimed BT Super had outperformed industry super funds over five years. ASIC said it was concerned the public would perceive that … Read more

Using data to tailor insurance

Insurance products are becoming a tool which super funds are using to differentiate themselves and increase their relevance to members, as the concept of providing averaged group insurance cover across a fund’s membership is supplanted by products tailored to the individual. However, the use of big data, or the lack of it, in the creation … Read more

Five retirement fallacies exposed

The use of online planning tools with stochastic models has exposed the wide variety of income and investment options individuals can take in retirement. When applied to the rules of thumb commonly used in retirement, these tools are starting to show that many of our hunches and biases for how we should save, spend and … Read more

The boutique premium

Boutique investment managers have consistently outperformed over the past two decades, delivering significant value when compared to primary indices, a study by the Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) claims. Based on the results from the study, the average boutique outperformed the average non-boutique in 9 of 11 equity product categories, by an average annual 51 basis points. … Read more

What the industry told Hockey

Industry bodies have made public the key positions of their submissions to the Government’s Tax White Paper; commons themes include a lifetime cap on tax concessions, not change to the dividend imputation system, taking the whole system into account (alongside the Age Pension) and the cessation of tinkering as it is destroying confidence. The Treasurer … Read more

Challenger enters pole position for CIPR

Link Group has signed a strategic alliance with Challenger to make annuity products more easily accessible to members, in one of Link’s first moves to use its new found scale to benefit clients. Link Group’s Australian Administration Services (AAS) has pledged to make guaranteed retirement income products available on its contemporary aaspire administrative platform by … Read more

Book review – The Death of Money

Malinvestment is a term I cannot recall hearing in our industry, but US author James Rickards refers to it frequently in his new book, the dramatically titled, The Death of Money – the coming collapse of the international monetary system. The book sketches out apocalyptic scenarios around further bank collapses, the failure of QE, the … Read more

Rethinking retiree investment risks

Some of the leading thinkers in superannuation investing met up in Melbourne with two representatives of Wellington Management to discuss how good the industry is at investing for retirement. They were set five questions to answer. What does your retirement offering look like and how much do you expect to evolve? It is rare to … Read more

Super CEOs in vanguard of leadership change

Superannuation fund chief executives are in the vanguard of a sea change in business leadership that prioritises values, believes an international business mentor. Anthony Howard, an author and a confidant to leaders in large publicly traded companies in Australia and abroad, will be speaking at FEAL’s annual conference in Melbourne on August 6, on how … Read more