Leeanne Turner, chief executive officer of the Motor Trades Association of Australia Superannuation Fund (MTAA Super), has been named the fund executive of the year by FEAL. This is the second award won by MTAA Super in 2014 after the chair of its board, John Brumby, was named trustee of the year by the Australian … Read more
The volatility of equity markets has been low for several years and consequently the cost of put-options that pay out in the event of a market slump are cheaply priced. But is it an appropriate strategy for institutional investors? Three experts give their views. Buy-now Jerry Haworth, chief executive and chief investment officer of 36 … Read more
The Grattan Institute report, Super sting: how to stop Australians paying too much for superannuation, has caused much consternation in superannuation. Some have looked briefly at it and hoped it would go away, but many of its findings have been taken up by the Financial System Inquiry. Now, Jim Minifie, productivity growth director of the … Read more
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
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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.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land upon which Conexus Financial sits, the Cadigal of the Eora Nation. We recognise their continuing connection and unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and community. We pay our deepest respects to them and their culture, and to Elders both past and present.
