The Conexus Institute

Opinion

Retirement Income Covenant – where does a trustee start?

Matching members with the right solutions, garnering appropriate member information within the existing legal and regulatory frameworks and through-lifecycle engagement are among the biggest challenges facing trustees as the Retirement Income Covenant lands, experts have said.

David BellJuly 19, 2021

Regulation

‘Not too bad’, but concerns remain: Aware Super CIO on performance test

Concerns remain about unintended consequences that are yet to arise, but Aware Super CIO Damian Graham believes the government’s second iteration of the performance test is a ‘reasonably pragmatic middle ground’.

Tahn SharpeApril 30, 2021

Regulation

‘Retrograde’ performance test picked apart at senate hearing

Limited scope, benchmarking issues and a failure to identify diversification risks were some of the key issues plaguing the proposed performance test according to speakers called up by the Senate hearing in Sydney Wednesday morning.

Tahn SharpeApril 7, 2021

Industry

Super system disadvantages middle income earners: Mercer’s David Knox

A universal pension scheme could result in “taking some off the top” by essentially removing or tapering tax concessions for higher income earners and redistributing these savings to middle income earners, Mercer's David Knox highlighted.

Matthew SmithFebruary 22, 2021

Fund Governance

‘We were never in a liquidity situation’: HostPlus

The $50 billion fund's deputy CIO - brought onto the panel to replace a sick Sam Sicilia - said the fund had enough liquidity amidst the early release scheme to manage "well beyond even the worst scenario we could imagine".

Tahn SharpeFebruary 10, 2021

Opinion

Good engagement creates better policy

The key to addressing complexity and subjectivity in my experience is through good engagement. For engagement to work there needs to be a level of trust. Trusting can be difficult when significant agency issues exist.

David BellOctober 21, 2020

Policy and Regulation

Shifting policy influence resulted in poor performance test

The shift of policy influence in recent years from Treasury to the ministers’ offices has likely contributed to the design of government's new performance measurement which has been panned by experts.

Matthew SmithOctober 19, 2020

Opinion

What should go into – and stay out of – a quality SG recommendation

While personal and professional agendas make it almost impossible to have a balanced debate about the SG, there are a few key criteria that any analysis - including that of the Retirement Income Review - should acknowledge according to the Conexus Institute's David Bell.

David BellSeptember 28, 2020

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