ASFA

New ASFA head Mary Delahunty says the association will collaborate with other industry bodies and leverage its large operational knowledge base to create more value for the mix of retail and industry funds and service providers that make up its membership. But how many voices does super need?

Super funds want to put their $300 billion of annual inflows to work in new renewable energy infrastructure. But policy settings, Your Future Your Super and intensifying competition for local assets could all have unforeseen consequences.

The association of Superannuation Funds of Australia is still on the hunt for a chief executive to replace Martin Fahy, but has turned to the former CEO of Spirit Super to shoulder the load in the meantime.

Martin Fahy has stepped down as CEO of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) after seven years at the helm where he played a “pivotal role” in addressing the policy and regulatory changes of the period.

Investors say they want to build resilient portfolios but all they’re doing is making them robust. And that’s not enough to come back better from a downturn.

Traditional portfolio construction might be dead. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to beat inflation, even as investors anticipate it will continue to rise and fall over the next decade.

Super fund trustees are throwing their full weight behind nation building projects where they feel their funds can get a competitive return, while the Coalition’s competing super for housing policy has been labelled “elitist”.

The Coalition wants to take the upper hand in the often emotional superannuation wars. Nation building and the new objective of super give it the perfect opportunity.

ASFA’s 2023 conference began with a pessimistic but realistic view of what investors can expect. They either need to build more resilient portfolios, trade more or “nail their colours to the mast and sail”.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers appears to have set himself another impossible task: ending the super wars. But legislating an objective for superannuation and urging funds to take part in nation building projects will only inflame them.