Opening up early access to super for housing would have a negative effect on the balances of even those members that don’t dig into their savings, with funds forced to adopt more conservative investment strategies and hold more liquid assets.
The circa $88 billion industry fund for workers in health and community services reckons that alleviating the affordable housing crisis will boost its other investments by easing the cost of living and inflation.
NGS Super boosts investment team
Susan Ding has been appointed senior manager for international shares, while Johnny Lambridis joins as senior manager for Australian shares. Ding’s career in finance and superannuation spans positions at T-Corp and iCare; Lambridis has previously held portfolio manager roles at M&G Investments and Element Investment Managers.
“We’re thoroughly committed to building a brighter and more sustainable future for our members, and the addition of Susan and Johnny will position us to progress and strengthen our capabilities in key sectors, both in Australia and overseas,” said NGS Super CIO Ben Squires (photo at top).
“Having Susan and Johnny on board means our investments team can both continue to drive sustainable and long-term value outcomes from our existing international and Australian assets, while being even more alive to future growth opportunities.”
NGS says the two appointments “complement and coincide” with its recent move to divest oil and gas exploration and production companies, including Woodside and Santos, and impose an interim target of a 35 per reduction in scope one and two emissions by 2025 on its Diversified MySuper portfolio. It intends on having a carbon neutral portfolio by 2030.
“This includes leading edge work to obtain an accurate baseline measurement of the carbon intensity of its investment portfolio and completing a scenario analysis of both listed and unlisted assets to create a robust carbon reduction glide path,” NGS Super said in a release announcing the appointments. “This will enable the fund to effectively model carbon reduction scenarios over time, taking into consideration key factors such risk, return and tracking error.”
