The meltdown of Silicon Valley Bank is “an early step” towards a more rational market environment, according to Howard Marks, but new problems might arise from bank exposure to commercial real estate.
Australian super funds can probably learn a bit about retirement from the tiny, adaptable Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund. And a host of Pacific funds are also working on their own collaborative approach to investing in the region.
UniSuper’s mandate to Revolution Asset Management shows how important private debt is becoming to super funds as their member base matures. It also has its roots in the merger with Australian Catholic Super.
There will likely be more changes to the controversial Your Future Your Super regulations following the “initial response”. Meanwhile, the government is pressing on with super fund involvement in nation-building projects.
Mercer Super wants to break down the long-held perception that only the industry funds can offer strong performance with competitive fees. Its newfound scale and global footprint are key to the “disruption opportunity”.
Neurodiversity is poorly understood in the world of finance. Women in Super and neurodiversity advocates are pushing for that to change.
Big and small funds alike can do well for their members, and what’s more important than size is how they use it. But the risks of having a highly concentrated industry have been “underplayed”, according to ANU academic Geoff Warren.
The changes to the Your Future Your Super performance test are an improvement, according to WTW. But the application of the test to trustee-directed products is probably more of a negative than a positive, and some benchmarks remain inflexible.
The Paris-aligned benchmarks that an increasing number of global investors now subscribe to disincentivise activities that might actually help the energy transition, according to index provider Scientific Beta.
It’s not so much the scale as the speed of Australian Retirement Trust’s growth that makes investing tough. A big allocation today might be a tiny slice of the pie tomorrow.
