Superpartners put under review

AustralianSuper, Cbus, Hesta, MTAA and Hostplus are conducting a review of their reliance on Superpartners as the sole source of IT for investment administration. The move comes after several years of concern at Superpartners’ overspend on IT projects that have under delivered or not appeared on time. A statement issued by a Cbus spokesperson said: … Read more

Neal likely to hold MD and CIO roles on interim basis

The Future Fund has begun a worldwide search for a new chief investment officer who can fit in with its ‘one team, one portfolio’ approach, after it was confirmed that David Neal would become the fund’s managing director. Neal, who has served as CIO since July 2007, has confirmed he is likely to hold the … Read more

Corporate funds left standing targeted by Equity Trustees

Corporate super funds that are unwilling or unable to merge with others are being directly targeted with a newly enlarged trustee service from Equity Trustees, led by John Rodd, former chief financial officer of Equip. ChantWest estimates there to be around 60-70 corporate funds still with their own trustee operations that could be attracted to … Read more

Volatility overlay to prevent Maritime members jumping ship

Maritime Super is offering a managed volatility overlay to its growth and balanced options, a process it has described to members as ‘avoid jumping ship’. It has taken the move to prevent the damaging impact of members switching out of equities into cash during periods of market downturn. Milliman has been hired to apply futures … Read more

Senior super executives help raise $4.5m for breast cancer research

The chief executives of Unisuper, MTAA Super, Cbus and HOSTPLUS were among those who helped to raise $4.5 million for breast cancer research by participating in the Mother’s Day Classic event last month. However, the biggest single fund raiser was Michelle McLean, managing partner of law firm Cornwall Stodart who raised $55,000. McLean who lost … Read more

Australia eyes global shift to collective defined contribution

The global shift towards collective defined contribution (CDC) has gathered momentum after the UK government announced its intention to remove legal impediments to their set up last week. In March, Unisuper asked the Financial System Inquiry to consider how the best features of pension systems in the Netherlands and Canada could be emulated in Australia, … Read more

Paul Costello joins board of $6.2bn Qantas Super

Paul Costello has been appointed as a employer representative director of the Qantas Super Board. He will join four other employer nominated directors all of whom are appointed for an indefinite period of time, subject to a formal performance assessment process every year. He joins following General Sir Peter Cosgrove’s departure in January, which led … Read more

Letter to the editor: ‘Is a Hippocratic Oath for fund managers required?’

I write to you in response to an article that appeared in Investment Magazine titled, Is a Hippocratic Oath for fund managers required? The article outlined the potential need for an oath that aims to tackle the issue of ethics and behaviour, rather than through regulation, in order to improve the trust in, and reputation … Read more

Deadline looms for fund executive of the year award

What did former winners of the fund executive of the year and the FEAL Masters Program Scholarship spend their prize winning education grants on? Kate Hage talks to Bruce Watson and Michelle Di Fabio. A $20,000 investment in your future: it’s a grant that’s led to top superannuation executives seeing the Dalai Lama and fund … Read more

Middle office evolution

Should super funds expand their middle offices as they grow, or is it more efficient for them to rely on an expanded range of services from custodians? Leading super fund chief financial officers, consultants and representatives of NAB Asset Servicing met in Melbourne recently to discuss this. Philip Hope, chief executive of Morse Consulting, has … Read more

Funds prepping for independent appointments

Superannuation funds are lining up possible candidates and calculating costs in the widely held expectation that the Federal Government will make it mandatory to fill one third of boards with independent directors. Andrew Fairley, Chairman of Equip, expects a change within six months and said the new ‘one third’ independent director structure would be a … Read more

Mortgage biggest cohort consideration: REST

Pre-retirees are prioritising paying off mortgages ahead of retirement planning, suggesting cohorts based on debt liabilities should be considered, says Paul Sayer, chief operating officer REST. The findings are based on member research carried out by REST. “People are living longer and thinking about a longer investment horizon, but they want to pay that debt … Read more