ISA

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.

Members back the idea of industry funds and the government working together on nation-building projects – if the returns stack up. Convincing them that they actually do will be key.

There’s too many associations around, and the proposed tie-up between the AIST and ISA could bring super closer to a single voice at a time when it needs it more than ever. The problem is what that voice might say.

While funds have backed affordable housing as an asset class, nation-building initiatives like the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) still need tweaks to create certainty for institutional investors.

The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) is exploring a merger with Industry Super Australia as external pressure grows on industry associations and the funds they service.

As the Albanese Government looks to use super funds to kickstart Australian infrastructure growth, the number of obstacles arrayed against investing in affordable housing and venture capital might give them pause for thought.

The Morrison Government wants to present a small target on superannuation at next year’s election. But Labor has big ideas for the sector that could be impossible to match. Superannuation might well be the Liberal Party’s Moby Dick. It’s a popular policy inextricably tied to Labor and the union movement, and while they can barely…

A significant chunk of super fund advertising could now be on ice, with APRA finding that marketing expenditure could not be shown to have improved members’ financial position. As stapling puts a nail in the coffin of default distribution, many of Australia’s biggest super funds have turned their attention to the dark art of advertising…

Australia’s industry funds have launched a full-throated defence of their sector as the national default fund debate heats up. Politics and performance are both at stake. The idea of a national default fund is a bold one, and has been advanced a number of times over the 30-year history of compulsory superannuation in Australia. Its…

The inquiry into common ownership has given us that rarest of things: a moment of bipartisan stupidity. There are so many wonderful ways to waste taxpayer money. You can use it to pay for business-class flights to Canberra, or Craig Kelly-style political stunts, or even give it away to profitable multinational corporations in the middle…