Geoff Warren

The CIO Is still considered the shot caller, but the fundamental changes that the super system is experiencing means funds could adopt a more diffuse operational model and power will shift away from the “masters of the universe”.

Mergers aren’t costless and big super can’t necessarily be counted on to clean up the long tail of unsustainable small funds. Solving the problem might require thinking outside the box.

Big and small funds alike can do well for their members, and what’s more important than size is how they use it. But the risks of having a highly concentrated industry have been “underplayed”, according to ANU academic Geoff Warren.

The superannuation industry is grappling with the complexity of delivering retirement solutions. Perhaps the only way to assess how well they work in the future is to start assessing them right now.

The Albanese Government has begun to explore the potential negative impacts of super fund consolidation. The question is whether a super fund can ever be too big to fail.

Australia’s super funds are racing to achieve massive size in the understanding that it will create untold benefits for members. But “a little but of circumspection and caution” is required. “People seem to be taking it as a fact that you just need to be bigger, and that it’s obvious you need to be bigger…