Super

One number will never tell the whole story, and a new and improved performance test could comprise as many as nine metrics, according to Chant West. This time around, Treasury is actually listening.

While Australia’s superannuation system is the envy of most of the world, it still needs to move from helping people accumulate money to helping them spend it.

Passing the performance test is no excuse for not merging, according to APRA, and the prudential regulator will still be giving small funds the nudge to consolidate where they feel their size isn’t sustainable.

A new review will address some of the unintended consequences of Your Future Your Super. But while super funds are no doubt holding out for a hero, there’s probably no perfect performance test.

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.