Australia’s superannuation funds have nearly the highest proportion of internal asset management in the world, but there’s plenty of questions hanging over the practice even as funds push into more expensive niche asset classes.
It’s “quite realistic” that many super funds will take too long to build the basics of a retirement income strategy, and the system might need a licencing regime to make sure members are getting the best service.
AustralianSuper retirement chief hits the road
Shawn Blackmore, AustralianSuper’s first chief retirement officer, will strike out from the fund this month to start a new venture.
Blackmore spent 17 years at AustralianSuper, with chief executive Paul Schroder highlighting his achievements for members during the Covid crisis and as the architect of its retirement strategy.
“Because of his deep experience and knowledge of the sector and its members (Shawn) has set a path for the fund where we have a much greater understanding of how retirement is different and deeply personal for each member,” Schroder said in a release. “Shawn’s contributions to AustralianSuper will be long lasting and I want to thank him on behalf of members and the Board for all the work he has done over the past 17 years.”
Blackmore spearheaded AustralianSuper’s recent move to give its members an “account for life” that would straddle accumulation and drawdown and reduce friction in the transition to retirement.
AustralianSuper did not announce if it would appoint an interim replacement for Blackmore or whether it had commenced a search for one. AustralianSuper’s retirement team is relatively small in comparison to those of other megafunds – around 10 people work in its retirement “domain” – but retirement as a discipline is distributed throughout the organisation, with a further 50 to 60 personnel focussed on it across the product, communications and advice teams.
“Shawn has been a driving force for a wide range of innovations across the fund and has always maintained a members’ first approach in his various roles,” Schroder said. “As group executive, member experience, Shawn saw a radical overhaul of the fund’s approach to engaging with members and was instrumental in delivering key digital tools such as the fund’s app, which was accessed by a million members alone last financial year.”
