Treasury’s proposal for a new single-metric performance test may seem refreshing, and sound like progress to a jaded industry, but potential dangers for funds, their members and the system at large lurk underneath.
The $5.7 billion First Super has appointed Prime Super head of investments Michael McQueen to its top investment job, ending an interim arrangement that has been in place since the resignation of CEO Bill Watson in early January.
Since Jacki Ellis joined the nation’s biggest profit-to-member super fund as head of retirement just over one year ago, she’s been assessing and building the fund’s capabilities with the aim of delivering a fully personalised experience to all members by 2035. But that’s not to say there won’t be benefits for members who retire before that.
Not all superannuation funds are equally placed to serve members approaching and in retirement, and the gap between the best and the rest is widening. The funds delivering optimal retirement outcomes share common traits – and the barriers preventing others from following their lead are neither insurmountable nor poorly understood.
In his first public comments since taking the top investment job at the $37 billion Brighter Super, CIO Damien Webb says he will look to generate alpha through smart investing in small caps and the Sunshine State, but that the fund is still looking to grow.
Aware Super has promoted Mathieu Elshout to the role of head of international as the $235 billion fund shifts from building its London presence to consolidating the gains made since the office opened in 2023.
Aware Super is adding a new management layer to its risk function, naming internal leader and former Medibank chief risk officer Greg Gokavi-Whaley as its new deputy CRO, Investment Magazine can reveal. The deputy position, unusual in superannuation, is a sign that funds are preparing for a more volatile risk environment.
The scale of superannuation funds and their allocation to growth assets – particularly US equities – illustrates a systemic risk that could arise if the US market were to decline significantly. The Fiduciary Investors Symposium heard that the probability of zero or lower real returns for a decade or more isn’t trivial, and that a decline, if it comes, is less likely to be a short, sharp shock than a slow grind downwards.
Shaun Manuell becomes chief investment officer at AustralianSuper at a point when the nation’s largest super fund is under pressure on short-term investment and member performance. With the fund projected to hit $1 trillion in assets by 2035, the AustralianSuper insider’s legacy in the role will be defined by whether the fund can become more operationally sharp, globally coordinated and high-returning as its portfolio and the investment landscape grow increasingly complex.
Payday super changes have been touted as addressing the issue of unpaid super and as putting members’ contributions to work sooner, earning them more in the long run. But the member benefits will only become real if every link in the chain between the employer and the member’s account works as it must, and there’s still a few yet to be joined up.
Discussion over retirement “defaults” has been heating up, but it is often unclear what the industry is actually asking for. Interviews by The Conexus Institute with super funds have uncovered support for suggesting retirement solutions to members and for contingency accounts, but not much support for opt-outs.
Australia’s retirement system works well for higher-balance members, but a large cohort enters retirement with modest superannuation balances, lower housing security and ongoing reliance on the Age Pension. Designing a system that works for everyone requires policy settings that reflect how Australians actually work, live and retire.
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