Deep member insights and data, a mature suite of products, digital-first engagement, AI integration and a robust advice offering are the features that will define superannuation for the next 30 years and make a real difference to members.
While the purpose of superannuation has always been to provide an income in retirement, up until recently, super fund propositions have concentrated on the accumulation phase. Focusing on member experience, including with a digital lens, can help ensure retirement propositions resonate with this growing audience.
AustralianSuper’s appointment of a general manager, retirement to replace Shawn Blackmore, which follows ART’s redeployment of Kathy Vincent to chief operating officer, shows that mega funds are back-pedalling on the strategy of having dedicated retirement C-suite executives. The role had been touted as the next big thing in super funds’ organisational structures, but experts say what matters is there is senior accountability for decumulation.
The Australian Government’s half-hearted formal response to last year’s independent review of the Modern Slavery Act is a lost opportunity to make Australia’s larger companies seriously address modern slavery in their own operations and supply chains.
A digital transformation of treasury operations can appear daunting. However, it can unlock the capabilities needed to mitigate the macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility of recent years. Aaron Jennings writes that treasurers and portfolio managers are becoming more selective when choosing banking partners.
Australian superannuation funds are boosting their treasury capabilities to take advantage of strong cash inflows while also trying to safeguard against market volatility from an expanding offshore footprint.
Some of Australia’s biggest asset owners are expanding their stocks and bonds lending activities in a push for improved returns by leveraging on significantly bigger balance sheets. This reflects funds’ increasing scale and global outlook, and reverses a pullback seen during the GFC and, later, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Labor government will pursue legislation to allow super funds to “nudge” their members to seek financial advice, as part of their efforts to fulfill their Retirement Income Covenant obligations. Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones claimed he had achieved “consensus” following a confidential and heated consultation over the introduction of a new class of financial adviser.
The OECD has called on global policymakers to avoid restrictive regulatory frameworks that could lead to overly conservative investment strategies in defined contribution pension schemes, as a new study from the organisation found that equity exposure usually brings better retirement income outcomes.
Wayne Swan, former Labor treasurer turned chair of embattled profit-to-member fund Cbus, has staunchly defended the construction industry fund’s trustee governance and his own independence at a much-anticipated showdown with a parliamentary committee led by Coalition senator and super sector critic Andrew Bragg.
The Albanese government has finally legislated an objective for the super system, in an eleventh-hour achievement that makes Australia the second developed nation to do so. The milestone comes almost two years after Treasurer Jim Chalmers kicked off the campaign at a Conexus Financial Political Series event.
Frontier Advisors has hired Alexandra Veroude as a senior consultant in its capital markets and asset allocation team. has hired Alexandra Veroude as a senior consultant in its capital markets and asset allocation team.
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.
