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
Individual trustees have been instructed to improve their skills and to keep on improving them in a strident speech given by Helen Rowell of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority in Melbourne. Such was the depth of requirements made that delegates at the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees’ governance symposium openly questioned whether trustees would have … Read more
Ian Robertson has resigned as director of the Local Government Super board and issued passing shots at those not pulling their weight in the industry. His last board meeting takes place on Wednesday and he will be replaced as the Development and Environmental Professionals’ Association’s nominated representative by Joanna Davison, the interim chief executive of … Read more
Superannuation funds will make a big shift into low-volatility smart-beta products over the next 12 months, according to Fraser Murray, head of equities at Frontier Advisors. Speaking at a packed Investment Management Consultant Association (IMCA) seminar in Sydney, Murray told how there had been little activity in this space until now, but this was about … Read more
The accepted belief that the most engaged superannuation members are the most active has been called into question by an academic from the University of New South Wales. A survey of 675 Unisuper members found the greatest proportion of fund switching or adjustment in insurance cover was carried out by members who were not fully … Read more
The investment intelligence behind Australia’s largest asset owners and their teams
In-depth interviews with leaders, experts and visionaries in the institutional investment community
Updates on the latest industry policy developments and regulation
The challenges and innovations of custody, technology and operational due diligence
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.
