The Future Fund is focused on building a portfolio of “somewhat risky assets” in order to achieve its government-mandated return, says its chair, David Gonski. “The government has the right to proclaim mandates for the board, and the current and original mandate set a target benchmark return for the fund of CPI plus 4.5 to … Read more
Minimum disruption for members was the guiding principle for AUST(Q) Super trustees when selecting AustralianSuper as their merger partner. The 19,000-member, $181-million Queensland-based fund has agreed in principal to a merger with Australian Super later this year after a 12-month process. One of the initial considerations of trustees was to retain its local base. “One … Read more
Not-for-profit superannuation funds will struggle to deliver low-cost products to market, despite the government’s intentions with reform, according to Nathan McPhee, chief executive of SuperRatings. “The fee position that industry and not-for-profit funds have held for so long is effectively gone. There’s an enormous cost pressure that’s building in this industry,” he said at AIST’s … Read more
Investment in small caps has paid off for Industry Funds Management (IFM), reporting outperformance of about 14 per cent in its first year. Chief executive of IFM, Brett Himbury, said its team of four, poached from Macquarie more than 12 months ago, has addressed a gap in small-caps management. “We actually spoke to our clients, … Read more
As part of an overhaul of Australia’s $1.5-trillion retirement savings sector, super funds are heading into a new era of disclosure and transparency. Draft regulations released last month reveal the depth and extent of information that the industry regulators want Australian super funds to disclose to their members and the wider public. As one corporate … Read more
Financial Services Council CEO John Brogden has appealed to the new Labor Party leadership to delay the implementation of the Stronger Super and Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms by 12 months. Brogden believes much of the industry will struggle to comply with the legislation, which comes into effect on Monday. While reiterating the FSC’s … Read more
Building scale and operational capability, and new regulations are driving the desire for more superannuation fund mergers, according to a recent report by State Street. The paper, ‘Super fund mergers: Benefits, challenges and keys for success’ features a roundtable debate with representatives from institutional super funds Prime Super, AustralianSuper and Media Super, and is contained … Read more
State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has undergone a significant restructure, including a number of senior leadership changes, in a bid to position it for growth and product development. Head of Asia Pacific, Lochiel Crafter, will be responsible for Australia, and Rob Goodlad, senior managing director and country head, will leave the firm. Kevin Anderson, the … Read more
Some retail providers have deliberately held back their MySuper applications so as to differentiate themselves from industry funds, an analyst has claimed. Nigel Pittaway, managing director insurance and diversified financials research, Citi Research, said retail providers were under pressure as they were having to squeeze margins to compete with the low fees of industry funds, … Read more
Superannuation fund investors investing in property should be mindful of the increased focus on sustainable features in buildings, according to Anita Mitchell, general manager, sustainability at Lend Lease. Speaking at a Women in Super lunch on ‘Super and Sustainability’ last week, Mitchell said buildings that fail to keep up with sustainability demands will become obsolete, … Read more
The licensing of accountants to provide advice to SMSFs will help counter to the unreasonable leakage of superannuation members from funds, according to Nick Sherry, consultant at Citi. “There are far too many SMSFs that are sub-economic, that the operational costs cannot be justified. I see a level of mis-selling around property investment and I … Read more
This article is drawn from a State Street paper, ‘Evolving superannuation funds for the future’, which explores the challenges facing the industry today and how it is evolving in response. To download a copy of the full report, see here. Moderator Robert Goodlad, Senior Managing Director, State Street Global Advisors, Australia Panellists Lachlan Baird, Chief Executive Officer, Prime Super Alistair … Read more
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