Opening up early access to super for housing would have a negative effect on the balances of even those members that don’t dig into their savings, with funds forced to adopt more conservative investment strategies and hold more liquid assets.
The circa $88 billion industry fund for workers in health and community services reckons that alleviating the affordable housing crisis will boost its other investments by easing the cost of living and inflation.
Six not-for-profits vie for honours in top two Chant West Awards
(pictured: Warren Chant)
Six not-for-profit funds – AustralianSuper, First State Super, QSuper, REST, Sunsuper and UniSuper – have qualified as finalists in both the Super Fund of the Year and Pension Fund of the Year Awards for the upcoming 2016 Chant West Awards.
The Awards cover 12 categories. There are 10 finalists in each of the two main categories. They are: Super Fund of the Year – AustralianSuper, CareSuper, Equip, First State Super, HESTA, HOSTPLUS, QSuper, REST, Sunsuper and UniSuper. Pension Fund of the Year – AustralianSuper, Colonial First State, First State Super, MLC, QSuper, REST, Sunsuper, Telstra Super, UniSuper and VicSuper.
Funds that have been nominated in four or more categories are AMP, AustralianSuper, CareSuper, HESTA, Mercer, MLC/Plum, QSuper, Russell Investments, Sunsuper, UniSuper and VicSuper.
Warren Chant, Chant West principal, said: “We rated about 190 super funds and 100 pension funds in late 2015 in preparation for this year’s Awards. For super funds, this involves scoring them on about 120 factors under our six main criteria.”
The two most important criteria – investments and member services – together account for 60 per cent of a fund’s overall rating. The others are fees, insurance, administration and organisation.
“Our starting point in deciding the finalists in each award category is to consider the top 10 to 15 scores for the relevant criteria from our ratings process. So, for example, the finalists for the Best Fund: Member Services are those that scored highest on that criterion alone,” Chant said.
“Our research team then debates those scores to see whether they truly reflect our view of the funds given our experience and knowledge of them. In some cases, the debate causes us to revisit our scores, and may result in a change to our rankings.”
The process is applied to each award category, and senior management also review the entire process for its robustness and consistency.
For a complete list of finalists go to: www.chantwest.com.au
The Awards are sponsored by AIA Australia and Pillar Administration. The winners will be announced at a black-tie dinner at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney on May 4.
