Super

A coalition of Australian and British pension funds representing A$3.25 trillion of workers’ retirement savings has called on the Starmer government to reform policy settings so they can tip more money into the energy transition in the UK.

Andrew Lill has stepped down as chief investment officer of the $86 billion Rest, bound for parts yet unknown. The fund he leaves looks very different to the one he joined.

AMP will reduce the headcount across its superannuation and North platform businesses and press ahead with changes to its redundancy policies even as the Finance Sector Union warns that “staff deserve better”.

Long-term investing is not static investing. But – given a distant investment horizon and well-calibrated asset allocation – super funds don’t need to shake up the portfolio every time the world changes.

Equip Super and TelstraSuper will merge to create a $60 billion profit-to-member fund, with Northern Trust a shoo-in for its custody and fund administration needs.

‘Once-in-a-decade’ events are becoming more and more common, but avoiding them altogether is just one way of protecting portfolios. ART is building new capabilities to absorb their impact – and come back from them even stronger.

With almost 50 per cent of its nearly $100 billion FUM now internally managed, Cbus has seen fees come down and gained more control over its ever-growing portfolio. But in hindsight it “could have pushed a bit harder”.

Donald Trump’s possible return to the White House would undoubtedly set back sustainability efforts, but the bigger problem is that his view of geopolitics is “one that anybody who runs capital wouldn’t want him to have”, according to Anthony Scaramucci.

With its investment in euNetworks, Aware Super gets access to a long haul fibre network spanning 50,000 kilometres and 17 countries – as well as evidence that its international push is paying off.

Canada’s own efforts to get its pension funds involved in nation-building have been more heavily resisted than in Australia, but a new paper has learnings for both countries.

Super funds have fallen behind banks on nature-related physical and transition risk, with a regulatory muddle, lack of internal resourcing and data concerns holding them back even as damage to ecosystems threatens “cascading losses”.

The desire to open up its membership base was one of the drivers behind CSC’s attempt to merge with AvSuper, but the change in government and a new legislative agenda tripped it up.