Superannuation funds are winning their efforts to make Australian companies adopt long term thinking, according to Andrew Gray, investment manager, governance at AustralianSuper. Longer-term remuneration structures are coming into place and there is a greater acknowledgement of environmental sustainability and dangers. Part of the shift in behaviour is due to AustralianSuper’s growing ownership of ASX200 … Read more
How worried should the superannuation industry be by the contents of the Financial System Inquiry’s interim report? The comments made by David Murray in the interview, the day after the report was published, reveal an entirely unsentimental view of the industry. The report is critical of the worth of active management, the general level of … Read more
The Governance Institute of Australia has launched Principles and Guidelines for the interaction between institutional investors and ASX listed companies. At the launch yesterday, David Gonski, chair of ANZ and former chair of the Future Fund, endorsed the principles and the need for companies and their shareholders to have open and honest communication and interactions. … Read more
David Murray told me it was “clear” the return from active managers is not worth the extra cost when talking to me the day after the release of the Financial System Inquiry interim report two weeks ago. This is a bold statement when applied to superannuation funds, the best of whom have a reputation for … Read more
This week marks the two year anniversary of Qantas Super becoming the first Australian superannuation fund to implement tax managed centralised portfolio management. Last year it saved $23.6 million for members in its default fund – a figure similar to the year before, or an average of 38.3 basis points per year since it launched … Read more
Six principles for helping employees engage in return to work programs and reduce group insurance premiums have been published by AIA Australia. The principles were identified after independent research carried out by rehabilitation expert Petrina Casey for AIA Australia, which gathered data and experience from programs around the world as well as speaking to those … Read more
Lawyer and superannuation executive David Galloway gives his thoughts on some of the most costly pieces of regulation impacting on members. Some trustees might feel a justifiable sense of confusion around the issue of regulatory costs savings. While the government has established a regulatory cost saving initiative, that didn’t prevent it inflicting a new SuperStream … Read more
Unisuper would consider benchmarking its returns after fees with a diversified passively run portfolio to justify the use of active management. The proposal was made by John Pearce, the fund’s chief investment officer, in response to criticism of the impact active management has on fees in the Financial System Inquiry’s interim report. Unisuper’s balanced fund … Read more
The Future Fund has created a novel way to structure agreements with managers on two of its Australian airport investments to improve alignment and incentivise project management skills. The move springs from the fund’s belief that the measurement of infrastructure performance is opaque and that Australian airports could be better managed. Speaking at the ASFA … Read more
Delegates at the recent AIST Global Dialogue tour heard of several ways that superannuation funds could invest in China’s amazing continued rate of growth. The value of Chinese equities has fallen from around 35 times earnings in 2007 to below 10 times earnings now. This is a clear buying opportunity for Stuart Rae, chief investment … Read more
Retirement as we know it will disappear, according to one of Australia’s leading strategic thinkers. Dr Stefan Hajkowicz, a strategist and principal scientist at CSIRO, is to present his thoughts on this and other mega-trends at the FEAL annual conference on August 7. “There’ll be a completely new, tapered retirement model emerge, of less work, … Read more
QSuper members have the highest satisfaction levels in the industry, with 89.3 per cent satisfied compared to an average of 65.6 per cent, according to Core Data. In a survey of 1,468 fund members, Core Data also found engagement overall has reached a three year high among, with baby boomers overtaking the pre-boomers as the … Read more
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Investment Magazine provides in-depth, monthly analysis of trends and developments for all the businesses in which superannuation funds engage‚ including asset allocation, investment manager selection, custody and fund accounting, member administration, group insurance and compliance.
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