Lower costs associated with funds management will not always be in the best interests of super fund members, but improved transparency and comparability will. Chant West, a fund and multi-manager research firm, has recommended to the Cooper Inquiry into super that funds adopt 18 specific recommendations for standard disclosures in the three key areas of fees, investment performance and insurance. The firm also provided a separate report on insurance which principal Warren Chant says is the worst area for disclosure. “It would be almost impossible for the average person to make a reasonable comparison of super funds’ insurance offerings,” he said.
Mercer Growth Asset Allocation
In the May 2010 issue of Investment Magazine, an error appeared in the table that accompanied “Mercer looks at new approach to asset allocation” on page 4. The first two rows in the table were incorrect with regard to Australian shares and Australian small caps. The entire table, with corrections, appears here.
On May 5, just two days after announcing what his Government called the biggest superannuation reform in a lifetime, the Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, the Hon Chris Bowen, sat down with the industry to discuss three of the four reviews which have so preoccupied it this past year. Henry, Ripoll and Cooper are three names bound to echo around the halls of super funds for many years, even if the increase in the compulsory Super Guarantee (SG) from 9 to 12 per cent went against Henry’s recommendations, the banning of commissions was far stronger than anything in Ripoll’s final report, and the response to Cooper has not yet been made. This roundtable was also too early to discuss the ‘Johnson’ report on making Australia a financial services hub, which the Government ended up completely endorsing last month, including clarity that non-Australian assets managed by firms based here would not be subject to any tax liabilities. Nevertheless, the industry had plenty to ask the Minister. The result was a lively roundtable, and we thank Vanguard Investments, which claims to have never paid a commission anywhere in the world, for agreeing to sponsor it. Proceedings kicked off with the big question of whether the SG increase had any chance of getting to the Senate before a Federal election later this year. 
A major bank has seeded a global “soft commodity” equities-only fund in the belief that growing population pressures will boost the popularity of this asset class in the next five years. 
