Two of Australia’s biggest institutional investors have called current equity markets fair value despite a year-long spike in prices. Both AustralianSuper and the Future Fund acknowledge the susceptibility of markets to bad news around high government debt in developed markets, but are not nervous about valuations. Innes McKeand head of equities at Australian Super, said: … Read more
The creators of the principals behind Stronger Super regulation are to publicly assess how far the industry and the regulator have progressed in enacting their vision. Both Jeremy Cooper and Paul Costello will be talking in Sydney and Melbourne at the Investment Management Consultants Association in Sydney on November 26 and in Melbourne on November … Read more
State Super Financial Services will review the composition of its board in 2014 and consider adopting the Cooper Review’s recommendation of three employer, three employee and three independent trustees. The $13 billion advice firm and superannuation fund is owned by the $40 billion SAS Trustee Corporation. The SSFS board is chaired by former chief executive … Read more
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has admitted some areas of compliance for insurance in superannuation are “devilishly tricky” for funds. The comments were made by Greg Brunner, general manager-supervisory support division at APRA at an Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees symposium in Melbourne. Brunner told an audience of trustees there were “significant” transition and implementation … Read more
Mark Delaney, chief investments officer of AustralianSuper has sought to calm fund manager hostility to his fund’s rolling plan to manage money internally. This follows a formal announcement by the fund that managing a proportion of equities, property and infrastructure in-house will eventually deliver savings of $150-million per year (or 15bps) on external fund manager … Read more
Narrow is the road that Christian Super takes in the pursuit of returns. It negatively screens the ASX300, avoiding stocks that focus on alcohol or gambling, and going beyond the call of the average institutional investor’s duty by putting a lot of energy into investments that help make the world a better place. Around 8 … Read more
State Super Financial Services, the advice business owned by SAS Trustee Corporation, will create formal referral arrangements with industry superannuation funds and other institutions to provide ongoing personal advice to more Australians. Peeyush Gupta, SSFS chair, said the group is actively seeking to partner with superannuation funds in a similar way to the recent deal … Read more
Sunsuper has pledged to create niche cohort strategies alongside its initial lifestyle MySuper product, which has gone live with 900,000 members and $16 billion of assets. Members most affected by the launch on October 4 are those aged over 55, who hold over 90,000 accounts which have begun the transition into less risky assets than … Read more
Reform of industry funds is low on the government’s agenda, according to Peter Collins, chair of Industry Super Australia, despite pre-election threats made by Mathias Cormann. Collins calmed the nerves of delegates at the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees’ governance symposium by speculating that the government had at least 50 more pressing issues to deal … Read more
Liquidity constraints and a desire to compete on price is leading retail funds increasingly diverging from industry funds, according research firm Chant West. Warren Chant, director of Chant West, was speaking in advance of a presentation on the 81 MySuper products launched so far at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium in Victoria November 18 to 20. … Read more
The public has turned its nose up at graphical representations of risk on the MySuper product dashboard and asked the Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC) to make it simpler. Qualitative consumer market research in September has gauged reactions to the information funds must provide on MySuper products and expectations around disclosure. Speaking at the Australian … Read more
Former Victorian premier and federal member of parliament, John Brumby likes women. Since his appointment as independent chair of the MTAA Super Trustee Board in April 2011, he has overseen the appointment of the fund’s first female chief executive and independent directors. Former AvSuper chief executive Leeanne Turner replaced the fund’s longstanding leader, Michael Delaney, … 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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