Damien Webb, deputy CIO and head of international at Aware Super which oversaw the fund’s ambitious UK expansion, is returning to Australia to lead the investment operations at the $37 billion Queensland-based Brighter Super.
Frontier Advisors CEO Andrew Polson says the business has a “five-year window” to make its new outsourced CIO offering successful but says that the work it’s done firming up its growth plans and prospects will see it become a “very profitable business”.
Emerging markets and insurance-linked securities have helped Colonial First State to secure three calendar years of double-digit returns, but CIO Jonathan Armitage says that budget deficits – and how governments go about dealing with them – could be a key friction for markets in 2026.
Advice consultancy Finura Group predicts HUB24 and Netwealth will successfully leverage their large balance sheets to lead an “oligopoly” and dominate the advice process. The annual predictions come as Netwealth reported record inflows despite fallout from the First Guardian collapse.
Former Perpetual and MLC chief executive Geoff Lloyd has been named chair of Conexus Financial, the publisher of media titles including Investment Magazine. Lloyd says he’s excited about contributing to Conexus’ coverage of superannuation as the sector broadens its focus from investment performance to member experience.
AI could play a significant role in the retirement phase for millions of members through on-demand advice and guidance, but funds need ironclad governance and operational guardrails to make sure it’s a benefit, not a hazard.
If the superannuation system fails to deliver good retirement income solutions to members in retirement, everyone in the system will be to blame. Already under fire for slow responses to the Retirement Income Covenant obligations, introduced three years ago, there’s a good chance the majority of funds could take another seven years to produce high-quality solutions. The Conexus Institute’s plea to all in the industry is to put your shoulder to the wheel and get the job done. Members deserve no less.
What does an effective superannuation fund board look like in today’s complex and competitive landscape? Nicolette Rubinsztein draws on almost 10 years of board experience across superannuation and other sectors to outline seven key insights into crafting the optimal combination of skills on super fund boards.
The coming wave of retirees would be a big enough task for super funds to handle even if the needs of every one of those retirees weren’t uniquely complex. The response of funds to date has been slow in some cases and research by Conexus and CoreData Research shows it’s also widely variable. There are questions all trustees should be asking about the readiness of their funds to support members as they retire.
Alexis George will leave AMP after almost five years, with chair Mike Hirst saying that her simplification program has put momentum back into the business and prepared it to compete in the retirement space.
The $210 billion Aware Super has tipped $460 million into Vantage Data Centres APAC as it looks to capture the “mega-trend” of digital infrastructure across geographies.
Witnessing Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce’s spectacular fall from grace as Australia’s leading business figure to the subject of scorn in Joe Aston’s page-turner The Chairman’s Lounge has been saddening for me from both professional and personal standpoints. But it also provides sage lessons for financial services executives and board members in the wake of Shield and First Guardian and governance issues in superannuation.
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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.
