Super

It’s big super’s “once in a lifetime opportunity” to build the future. But as funds look to invest in nation-building in Australia and the Pacific, they’ll want the government to share some of the risk.

The prudential regulator’s superannuation czar says it has no view on whether smaller funds can survive – but that funds must continue to innovate to avoid becoming “footnotes in financial history”.

As homegrown competition intensifies and offshore players eye Australia’s retirement savings, the industry funds are now “frenemies”. Reinvigorating the collaborative model will be the key to their survival.

Labor and the superannuation industry are still running their victory lap, but concerns around disclosure and consolidation loom large in the background.

It’s unlikely that there will be an increasing trend towards Your Future Your Super (YFYS) test failures, but the unintended consequences of the reforms are still worth examining, says JANA.

Some of super’s best performers this year are also its smallest, and new research from Frontier finds that asset allocation is more influential than size and scale when it comes to generating alpha.

The quality of advice review opens the door for super funds to become a one stop shop for their members’ financial advice needs. But keeping things simple is key.

Fewer funds failed the Your Future Your Super (YFYS) test than last year – but plenty of passes have come from managing to the constraints of that test.

A UniSuper member has accused the fund of potentially breaching its trustee obligations and the Corporations Act in a case reminiscent of one brought against Rest in 2018.

“Talent incubator” Future IM/Pact has partnered with four of Australia’s biggest super funds to help women into frontline investment roles. Investment internalisation is driving some of the interest.

APRA has issued Vanguard a superannuation licence as it prepares to launch a disruptive play for Australia’s gargantuan retirement savings pool.

ASFA wants the YFYS performance test benchmarks tweaked to account for the exclusions and negative screens that faith- and values-based funds use.