Despite initial reservations about changes to insurance in superannuation, Aware Super head of insurance David Evans says the industry has done a good job of improving cover, but must be much more proactive in communicating the benefits of insurance to members. He argues there’s no need for a wide-ranging review of the kind called for by organisations such as Super Consumers Australia.
Retirement is fundamentally different to accumulation, and demands specialist management and oversight. The Conexus Institute’s David Bell and Geoff Warren argue the case for a dedicated retirement committee as an effective way to quickly close any expertise gap between management and boards to help funds grapple with the complexity of delivering their retirement offerings.
The UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment says Australian regulators like ASIC are not having enough dialogue with the private sector amid their greenwashing enforcement focus. While supervision around responsible investing is welcome to keep the market in check, PRI chief sustainable systems officer Nathan Fabian said Australia’s current approach lacks some nuance compared to global practice.
AMP has launched a debt strategy, which can be accessed by members invested in the MySuper or Future Directions options range.
Health industry super fund HESTA has appointed Natalie Kelly as its chief financial officer.
Australia’s second-largest super fund Australian Retirement Trust has successfully absorbed the $2.5 billion and 4800 members of AvSuper.
As regulatory and public scrutiny ramps up on decumulation, the mission statement of ‘delivering the best possible member outcome’ in Australia’s $3.5 trillion pension sector has just become even more complicated. Stepping out of the return-based objectives in accumulation, a recent Investment Magazine roundtable discussed how super funds are grappling with the different beast that is investing for retirement.
Having enjoyed a front row seat to numerous sharemarket scandals over the past decade, controversial AFR columnist turned independent writer Joe Aston says his experience with industry super funds has been overwhelmingly “positive”. While many commentators throw barbs at the growing profit-to-member super sector, Aston will tell the Fiduciary Investors Symposium next week that it is the nation’s biggest champion of corporate governance.
If you believe the critics, the private credit bubble is bound to burst any day now. However, asset owners are still bullish on its return potential and resilience. The Investment Magazine Private Credit Forum 2024 heard how investors can take advantage of an environment where opportunities and challenges co-exist for the asset class.
Prime Super has appointed Raelene Seales as chief executive, commencing 3 June 2024.
In the history of the corporation, directors appointed as a nominee of another entity have been commonplace. Large super funds nominating directors to ASX companies is something to be expected, and looks like both a foreseeable and manageable development.
UniSuper has experienced major website disruptions that have made its online account services, calculators and application forms temporarily unavailable. In a letter to members on Thursday night, the $130 billion fund confirmed that the issue originated from a third-party service provider.
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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.
