News

The government will continue to tweak the Your Future Your, Super benchmarks to provide certainty on sustainable investing and give ASIC more funding to combat greenwashing as global climate action heats up.

Citi Securities Services has won the custody mandate for Mason Stevens as it looks to expand its platform offerings and its previous custodian, NAB Asset Servicing, winds down its operations.

The Future Fund is thinking of restarting its active equity programs with investments in small caps, according to CEO Raphael Arndt, but commentators are split on whether it will find the returns it needs.

Members back the idea of industry funds and the government working together on nation-building projects – if the returns stack up. Convincing them that they actually do will be key.

Super funds’ relatively low allocations to fixed income will rise with yields and as members move further into the retirement phase, according to a new report from the government’s debt agency.

The biggest NZ funds management administration gig could be up for grabs with the $33 billion ANZ Investments understood to be exploring outsourcing options.

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.

Managed equity funds have experienced their worst outflows since the Covid downturn of early 2020, according to Calastone. Specialist sector funds are feeling the pain too.

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”.

Funds that have failed the Your Future Your Super performance test need to improve their communications on underperformance and product closure, according to ASIC.

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.