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As the retirement product race heats up in superannuation, funds and advisers need to confront a simple fact: people will live a lot longer than they think. Average life expectancy remains the main metric for determining the planning horizons for retirees. But research from the Actuaries Institute of Australia found that the tools used by…

We’ve known about it for years, but D-Day is now close at hand for big super funds. An estimated $500 billion is, potentially, going to leave the system over the next two years, according to an APRA estimate. Funds can longer afford to be complacent about their business. David Orford, an actuary who made his…

(pictured: David Orford) The ACCC this month signalled that it may oppose the purchase of the NSW Government’s Pillar super admin business by Link Group. In an analysis piece last week, Investor Strategy News expressed the view that the industry would be better off if Link was able to bid. David Orford* begs to differ. Orford…

(pictured: Michael Dwyer)  The two companies are for sale – one by the NSW Government and the other by its founder. They are engaged in a big tech-heavy project for a high-profile super fund. But the project has not gone to plan. Oh no, not again. The $55 billion First State Super has been advising…

(pictured: David Orford) Financial Synergy, arguably the leading superannuation systems company in Australia, is for sale. David Orford, who founded the firm in Melbourne in 1978 as an actuarial business, has appointed an investment bank to advise on a possible transaction. While, in theory, the possible sale of Financial Synergy should not impact on the proposed…

(pictured: David Orford and Stephen Mackley)  Financial Synergy has signed its largest-ever contract – a deal with Statewide Super – in what is also believed to be the super fund industry’s first ‘software as a managed service’ contract, for its Acurity admin system. According to Stephen Mackley, the system company’s chief executive, the deal is…

Peter Brook  Pillar Administration has selected Financial Synergy to consolidate its nine platforms into one by March next year when the $60 billion First State Super is scheduled to migrate to the new system. Financial Synergy’s Acurity, which was already one of the Pillar platforms, will eventual be administering about 4 million accounts when the…