At-a-glance profiles of awards’ finalists

There are six weeks until the third annual Conexus Financial Superannuation Awards, with limited tickets left. This year’s finalists were selected based on a quantitative assessment by Rice Warner upon which the selection committee placed relative weights. Here is a mini-profile of every organisation and person that made the shortlist. Richard Brandweiner CFA moved from … Read more

Superannuation Complaints Tribunal appoints new chair

The Government has appointed Helen Davis as the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal’s (SCT) full-time chair for a period of five years. Davis set up her own superannuation consultancy firm in 2013 and held a number of senior roles at QSuper from 2008 to 2012 including chief strategy officer and chief officer, member outcomes. Prior to this … Read more

Heart of an innovator

Equip is one of the first to bring a post-retirement product, MyPension, to the market, to appoint a women, Danielle Press, from outside the “traditional industry” as CEO, and it has innovated by setting up a unique partnership with AustralianSuper taking on their $700 million defined benefit business. At the centre of this drive is … Read more

Eliminating commercial interests from awards

The process for shortlisting finalists in the third annual Conexus Financial Superannuation Awards was setup with the express purpose of eliminating commercial interest from the decision making procedure, Colin Tate, chief executive of Conexus Financial said. Tate said what separates these awards from others in the superannuation sector is the independent nature of the selection process. “The … Read more

AIST viewpoint: The facts of retirement

There can be no doubt that big data is a big part of superannuation these days. At AIST’s recent Conference of Major Superannuation Funds held last month on the Gold Coast, the potential for the mining of data to revolutionise and disrupt our industry was an ongoing theme across the conference’s 66 sessions. But when … Read more

Political climate right for bipartisan support

The political climate is right for bipartisan support on a range of issues facing superannuation, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) believes. Presenting ASFA’s research into very high superannuation account balances Pauline Vamos, chief executive, said tax concessions provided the starting point for a bipartisan conversation about superannuation’s role in the wider economy … Read more

New Energy

Enablement of others is central to Mark Williamson’s vision – a consistent theme whether he is talking about relationships within the super fund, the role of technology, or insurance and retirement products tailored to Energy Super’s members. “I learned a long time ago not to get in the road of management,” Williamson says. “The chair … Read more

More women and independents on boards

Diversity on superannuation boards has increased steadily in the past year, with nine out of 13 publicly announced appointments going to women. Seven of these appointments have gone to independents, four have gone to people with funds management backgrounds and two have gone to lawyers. The announcements only represent funds that have sought to publicise … Read more

Equip rectifies shortfall of board’s skills

A skills matrix assessment of Equip’s board has identified shortfalls amongst the directors, prompting them to make two new appointees. In the past six months Equip used the global retained executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles to ascertain the scope of skills, whether hard skills, soft skills, generic skills or specific skills, that the board … Read more

Too ill to be disabled?

Whenever definitions in a total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance policy are amended to reduce premiums it’s certain the change will cost someone something. The question for trustees is whether the cost will be paid fairly and by the correct parties. One approach currently in favour with insurers is to insert a clause into policies … Read more

CIO of the year shortlist announced

The shortlist for the chief investment officer of the year has been released in advance of the Conexus Financial Superannuation Awards at the Ivy Ballroom, Sydney on May 20. The shortlist for the top four large funds, top four medium-sized funds and the top four small funds, best MySuper defaults, the best member engaged services, … Read more

Future Fund puts high-fees to work

The Future Fund is favouring labour intensive, and therefore higher fee, strategies in areas where too much capital has been flowing to generic low-fee strategies resulting in high prices and low returns. David Neal, managing director of Future Fund, clarified to delegates at ASFA Investment Interchange that fees across the asset management industry are “too … Read more