The Coalition has pledged to give young Australians access to up to $50,000 in their retirement savings to get a toehold in the housing market. Super funds say it will only further inflate property prices.
Listed property, which found investor favour in 2024, is better positioned to weather market volatility with institutions eyeing improving valuations and development opportunities. For overseas players, a weaker Australian dollar is a bonus.
Equip taps Northern Trust for custody
Equip Super has appointed Northern Trust to provide it with global custody, fund administration and portfolio analytics services, bringing its more than 30-year relationship with NAB Asset Servicing (NAS) to a close as the custodian winds down its operations.
Equip Super, which picked up Catholic Super in 2022 and “continues to look for new growth opportunities”, was after a partner that could enable it to “scale effectively while providing its members with a consistent service experience”.
“We chose Northern Trust as our new custodian based on their global services and product offering and competitive fees. They proved to be the best match to enable us to meet our Fund’s strategic objectives and provide the best financial interest to our members,” said Equip Super CFO Marc Pizzichetta.
Equip is the latest NAS client to find a home, with BNP Paribas taking the crown jewel with MLC (and the amalgamated Insignia Financial) and State Street picking up a number of other its other clients.
It’s a nice win for Northern Trust, which was recently in contention for Perpetual, currently held by State Street. That process began with Perpetual’s acquisition of Pendal but has been put on hold as it proceeds with the sale of its corporate trust and wealth units to KKR and the rebrand of its asset management business.
“The decision by Equip Super to select Northern Trust underlines our commitment to Australia and is a testament to the breadth of our experience and expertise in providing asset servicing to Australian superannuation funds,” said Leon Stavrou, Northern Trust country executive for Australia and New Zealand. “We understand the unique needs of this industry and look forward to building our relationship with Equip Super as they continue to grow.”
And while it seems that the feeding frenzy that began when NAS announced its exit from the market might be slowing, and plenty of transition activity has already taken place over the last 12 months, there’s still more to come. At NAS, another round of redundancies is expected to take place in December, though staff are largely able to take voluntary redundancies now.
