Comment

The near $100 billion construction industry fund has blundered into an ugly governance and administration debacle, and it’s unlikely that ASIC will let it off easy. Nor should it, with funds increasingly failing to provide their members with key services.

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.

The boondoggle about superannuation marketing spend is mostly theatre, and does nothing to answer the question of what is really in members’ best financial interests.

APRA’s new superannuation expenses data – and the granular information it contains about donut and coffee purchases – begs the question: how much transparency is enough?

The International Monetary Fund says that super funds’ chunky allocations to illiquid assets could be a danger to markets during stress events, but there’s little evidence to support their fears of systemic risk.

Markets are expensive, driven by powerful forces which want to turn a 40 year bull market into the first ever 50 year one. That trend is not one to embrace, and standing in its way could put investors in dire straits, writes Jonathan Ruffer.

Megafunds are set to control trillions in member savings, but there’s still more questions than answers about the future direction and shape of the superannuation system.

Australia’s sovereign wealth fund’s prediction of a tough year for investors didn’t come to pass, but they’re not the only well-resourced manager that missed the mark. For investors, this period is a reminder that investment patterns may exist, but markets certainly aren’t beholden to them.

The Your Future, Your Super performance test is now redundant. The superannuation industry, and its regulators and policymakers, must figure out what comes next.

Against a backdrop of increasing market complexity, the models that have for decades underpinned the way investments are made are no longer as useful as they once were, and threats to the financial system still lurk in its plumbing.

An eventual market correction won’t necessarily be marked by its depth, writes Jonathan Ruffer, but by its speed. Caution may come at a price, but investors will have a different perspective on that price once it’s been paid in full.

In the topsy turvy world of Your Future, Your Super being down 20 per cent is only a bad thing if the benchmark is 50 bips better, and defensive positioning in a weird market isn’t rewarded.