Home / News / AustralianSuper’s new deputy CIO puts the focus overseas

AustralianSuper's appointment of a new deputy CIO with the lion's share of responsibility for its overseas investments demonstrates the growing importance of international diversification for the country's biggest funds.

AustralianSuper’s new deputy CIO Damian Moloney was previously the fund’s head of international investments, spearheading its push into markets in North America and Europe with the establishment of several offshore offices. Moloney will continue to oversee those offices – the fund has plans to double the headcount in its London office and lift staff to more than 100 in its New York digs – as well as global responsibility for strategy and oversight for the investment group.

“With the fund forecast to grow from its current almost $300 billion to over $500 billion in member assets under management over the next four to five years, Damian’s appointment as deputy CIO is an important step that positions us to deliver simplicity and quality at global scale,” AustralianSuper CIO Mark Delaney said in a release.

“As we seek to drive long-term performance for members, the Fund is increasingly focussed on building its global operations and in-house investment capability, with around 75 per cent of member’s money expected to be managed by internal teams within a decade

While Delaney hasn’t telegraphed any intention to step down – aside from pointing out to a Morningstar conference in May that he’s unlikely to be around when a majority of members hit the retirement phase in the late 2030s – the establishment of the new role also provides a clear runway for succession. Before he joined AustralianSuper, Moloney was CEO of Frontier Advisors and spent 15 years at IFM and its predecessor Industry Fund Services.

“With more and more of AustralianSuper’s assets managed internally and invested overseas, I am looking forward to working with our team across the globe in this new role to efficiently grow our investment footprint and operations,” Moloney said.

“We have already made great progress in building our investment platform and now is an opportune time to improve global coordination. AustralianSuper has generated a lot of interest since becoming the first Australian superannuation fund to open global offices and the Fund continues to look for the best talent internationally to join our team investing across some of the world’s most important capital markets.”

With the superannuation system as a whole now totaling $3.5 trillion – around 150 per cent of the total market capitalisation of all ASX-listed companies – there’s a greater need for international diversification, and a steady pair of hands overseas has become increasingly important to Australia’s largest super funds. AustralianSuper currently has around half of its $300 billion FUM invested outside Australia, with $85 billion in the United States and $40 billion in the United Kingdom and Europe. The trend also demonstrates a growing bifurcation between funds at the big end of town, with the very largest moving offshore while others that are still approaching the $100 billion range stay home.

“Damian will play a pivotal role in developing and implementing our model for investing and operating globally in an integrated and efficient way,” Delaney said. “We expect the global team to grow from the current 100 staff to around 300 over the next three years, with around 130 in New York and 160 in London and a small team in Beijing.”