A sharp uptake in QSuper members choosing its pension product has coincided with the provision of greater flexibility to tailor drawdown. Since December pension payments can be increased annually in line with inflation, while limits on switching and minimum withdrawals have been removed. Members who are invested across several investment options will now also have … Read more
Some super funds have incurred the displeasure of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) by putting links to their product dashboard in unobtrusive positions on their website. The product dashboard provides members with five essential facts on their Mysuper fund; the return target, actual returns, a comparison with previous returns, the level of investment … Read more
Salaries for most back and middle office staff in superannuation funds will only rise in line with inflation in 2014, predicts specialist recruitment firm Robert Walters. The exceptions are for candidates in the areas of information technology and compliance. Andrew Hanson, director of financial services, market, sales and legal at Robert Walters, sees indications for … Read more
Some of Local Government Super’s ideas on ESG arise from a requirement that even its most red-blooded active manager must research it as part of their investment process. Chief investment officer, Craig Turnbull, says: “We will only use managers that think about ESG factors when making their investment decisions, so that it is making a … Read more
How are the people responsible for ensuring accurate and timely measurement of financial performance and compliance obligations coping with new APRA requirements? A group of chief financial officers, their advisers and service providers met to discuss the issues. A pdf copy of the discussion “All funds agree that there needs to be more information delivered … Read more
Superannuation funds would like their custodians to be providing more liquidity and stress testing of their assets. Partly this is being driven by regulation, partly by trying to make sense of increasingly diverse and dynamic portfolios. It is also important in calculating the management expense ratios needed for MySuper on product dashboards. The following quotes … Read more
Come July 1, 2014 trustees are faced with an unpalatable choice caused by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority rules on what insurance they can offer. Either they give all members insurance in line with the regulations or they retain the existing offer for those who joined before that date and give the revised deal to new … Read more
The Federal budget in May is to prioritise measures that will help states sell off brownfield infrastructure assets, the assistant treasurer Arthur Sinodinos has promised. Speaking at a Value Alliance gathering in Sydney, Sinodinos said state governments would be offered incentives to use money gained from asset sales for building new assets – spending that … Read more
A key ingredient for success in any organisation is strong leadership. It is common in the corporate world for the chief executive to change every five to 10 years as the organisation evolves. Are the same principles true for large institutional investors? Roger Urwin, global head of investment content at Towers Watson, who also leads … Read more
A leading academic has called for a review of whether the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) is limiting the growth of the financial services sector. Professor Rodney Maddock of Monash University says that no such review of APRA has taken place since its formation in 1998. Maddock, who was formerly a senior executive at the … Read more
NGS Super has cut the cost of launching a direct investment option for members by using a white-labelled platform from Mercer. Anthony Rodwell-Ball, chief executive of NGS Super, said developing such a platform was prohibitive, but the whitelabelled product from Mercer was half the cost of a tailored platform. Mercer already provides administration and member … Read more
The internet has been empowering for many consumer decisions, but can it empower the public on retirement investments? Anyone planning an overseas holiday can look at pages that rank hotels, restaurants and travel experiences in order of popularity and customer satisfaction. They can search for the most convenient and cheapest flights, for currency conversions and … 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.
