Online service most highly rated

HESTA was the top-scoring fund in a survey of member-satisfaction levels carried out by CoreData Consulting, which has highlighted the need for more tailored member communications. Four out of five members (79.5 per cent) surveyed said they were satisfied with HESTA, compared to an average rating of 62 per cent for all funds after respondents were … Read more

Product important at Sunsuper

Sunsuper has boosted its product division, appointing three senior managers in newly created roles. The division, created last year to centralise the super fund’s product design and management, now consists of 11 staff, with Andrew Nicholson, general manager of product, at the helm. At the head of the fund’s superannuation and retirement products team will … Read more

ASIC strategy: targeted surveillance

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will be taking a targeted surveillance approach to how superannuation funds undertake intra-fund advice, with particular regard to disclosure and transparency. The focus falls under the regulator’s facilitated-compliance approach as My Super kicks in at the beginning of July, according to Gerard Fitzpatrick, senior executive leader for investments … Read more

Retirement: a cause worth working on

There are two things that drive the newly appointed global chief operating officer of State Street Global Advisors, Greg Ehret, in his bid to improve the client experience: the retirement business is a cause worth working on and the clients are the reason the business exists. Ehret was appointed to the new position at State … Read more

Opposition to delay SG rise

The Coalition has said it will delay the increase of the super guarantee from 9 per cent to 12 per cent if it wins the September federal election. “The measured change we announced last night helps us fund income tax cuts and pension increases without a carbon tax, which will leave most people better off … Read more

The long haul at Commonwealth Bank Group Super

A limited range of asset classes held for the long term with little change in managers has generated 10-year average returns of between 7 and 9 per cent per annum for Commonwealth Bank Group Super’s investment options. Its returns and fees have won a steady trickle of awards, but the fund has not sought the … Read more

HOSTPLUS to offer “soft merger” platform

HOSTPLUS is inviting smaller funds to join them in a “soft merger” by giving access to its investments in a pooled superannuation trust. The fund is building a platform, which it hopes to have ready by the end of the year, that will give other fund and SMSFs access to each investment on a unit … Read more

Vulnerable baby boomers complain more

The Superannuation Complaints Tribunal is seeing a greater number of grievances from retiring baby boomers querying their superannuation benefits, says chair Jocelyn Furlan. Specifically, Furlan says she’s seeing more complaints from baby boomers who have been in super a long time and, having retired from senior roles, feel financially vulnerable in retirement. Furlan said when … Read more

Media Super pushes holistic investment thinking

A framework for top-level decision-making on investment impacts, with particular regard to environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment, is in development by Media Super chief investment officer, Jon Glass. “It’s a way to help trustees think through ESG issues, and to evaluate whether they should make decisions that will then have an impact on the … Read more

In the minds of super trustees

What is bothering trustees? Investment Magazine conducted an online poll that attracted a substantial and impassioned response, with several respondents sending us emails in addition to the poll pointing out the absence of climate change and hedging to avoid the climate bubble in the choices given below. Another put forward environmental and social governance issues … Read more

Catholic by name, catholic by nature

In his seventh year as chair of Catholic Super in Victoria, Peter Bugden can comfortably say he’s witnessed notable growth in the fund. What first began in 1971 as a niche offering to Catholic school employees is now an Australia-wide public offer fund, with around $5 billion under management following a period of growth – … Read more