Super

It’s tempting to think of the latest review into Your Future Your Super as just more regulatory tinkering, but experts think there’s a good chance it will give the industry a real solution to the unintended consequences of the performance test.

Australia’s biggest super fund is set to increase its investment in the UK to around $35 billion by 2030 and expand its already 100-strong on the ground presence in Kings Cross.

The MySuper reforms have seen costs come down and members getting a better deal, according to a decade of data compiled by Chant West, but the laser focus on fees from government and the regulators mean the industry’s opinion is “generally less sanguine”.

The $78 billion super fund has filled out its impact portfolio with a new listed equities mandate as it aims to have one per cent of FUM allocated to impact opportunities by 2026.

Tailwinds from the United States Inflation Reduction Act underpin the $170 billion super fund’s latest co-investment in Galway Sustainable Capital, and the move will also take the fund’s private equity portfolio into financial services and further offshore.

Big super’s in-sourcing of investment management means contending with new and hidden costs,
but funds are also fretting the unintended consequences of a laser focus on fees.

Australian Retirement Trust has seen the cycle of in- and out-sourcing around the world and doesn’t want to be part of the same ‘pattern’. But even very large super funds have to think hard about their service providers, with counterparty risk emerging around similarly large managers.

YFYS is driving an uplift of the $31 billion Brighter Super’s investment strategy, while wider super fund performance is narrowing even as competition for new and switching members heats up with the end of default distribution.

The $124 billion super fund is pretty proud of its direct property portfolio, which now includes 66 acres of prime development land once used to manufacture dynamite. But it doesn’t want to take on the risks that come with heading overseas.

Australia’s largest super fund thinks its three million members will be better off with a single “account for life” and will soon bring a longevity risk solution to market to help them conquer fear of running out.

A dearth of member data is “hindering progress” against the retirement income covenant and more than $145 billion of member money might be better off in guaranteed lifetime income products, according to new research.

The prudential regulator will undertake another review of how superannuation funds treat their unlisted assets, with a special focus on “valuation and liquidity management practices” as they come to account for larger and larger chunks of the portfolio.