News
www.fssuper.com.au Volume 13 Issue 02 | 2021
Super funds to merge AustralianSuper and Club Plus Super are working towards a merger, which would see the creation of a $207 billion fund. Club Plus Super identified AustralianSuper as the right strategic, cultural and operational fit for its members and reached out to discuss combining the two funds, according to a statement. Club Plus Super chief executive Stefan Strano said a merger is in the fund's members' best interests. "While most of our members join us at the start of their working lives, we recognise they need support across all stages of life, through careers that may span multiple industries," Strano said. "We have been very impressed through this process with the steadfast member-first culture of AustralianSuper." Club Plus was established in 1987, with a large proportion of its 65,000 members working in the hospitality and community clubs sectors. AustralianSuper chief executive Ian Silk said initial discussions between the two parties have been positive. "Members of the two funds have many similarities coming from a wide range of workplaces and being focused on the delivery of strong long-term performance," Silk said. "This is a great opportunity for our two funds to get to know each other better as we work through the due diligence period." Recent research from KPMG found that ongoing merger activity in Australia's super sector will likely result in just 12 funds managing close to 80% of all retirement savings. All 12 funds would also have more than $50 billion in funds under management. The research takes into account mergers that are yet to be finalised. fs
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Retail funds take out MySuper performance Annabelle Dickson
R The numbers
33.3%
Respondents in a Smart survey who expect to work parttime in retirement.
etail superannuation funds, with the exception of one industry fund, led MySuper performance for the three years to March end, according to latest Rainmaker analysis. Virgin Money Lifestage Tracker 1973-1983 returned 9.3% over three years, followed by UniSuper’s balanced option and GuildSuper Lifecycle Growing at 9.1%. They were followed by two more retail funds: smartMonday PRIME – MySuper Age 40 (9%) and Australian Ethical Super balanced (8.9%). The industry funds followed with AustralianSuper balanced achieving 8.6%, while LGS Accumulation Scheme - High Growth, Mine Super aggressive and retail fund BT MySuper Lifestage 1980s all returned 8.5%. Over five years industry funds still reign supreme with LGS Accumulation Scheme - High Growth returning 9.8%, followed by Hostplus balanced (9.6%) and AustralianSuper balanced (9.5). Rounding out the top five, smartMonday PRIME – MySuper Age 40
came in at 9.5% and Telstra Super Corporate Plus MySuper at 9.2%. Over 10 years, the top performers were Hostplus balanced (8.9%), AustralianSuper balanced and Cbus MySuper (8.8%). They were followed by UniSuper balanced (8.7%) and Telstra Super Corporate Plus MySuper at 8.7%. Overall, the Rainmaker MySuper Index returned 20.2% for one year, 7.4% over three years and 7.7% over 10 years. This was a better outcome than February, when default options hit then one-year high since COVID-19 of 6.1% returns for the 12 months ending February. The performance outcomes vary from the previous month which saw UniSuper come out on top over three years (8.3%) followed by Australian Ethical Super Employer (accumulation) with 8% and Tasplan - OnTrack Build with 7.4%. Over five years, LGS Accumulation Scheme - High Growth took out the top spot (9.8%), followed by AustralianSuper - Balanced (9.5%) and Hostplus balanced (9.5%). fs
Super fund advice not useful: Research Jamie Williamson
While 50% of Australians expect superannuation funds to advise them on retirement, only 16% of those who have sought advice from their fund believe it was useful. That’s a key finding of UK fintech Smart’s The future of global retirement report, looking at how those in the world’s most advanced defined contribution pension markets think about retirement. The research was conducted by YouGov via online interviews. The results are based on 2014 responses from Australia, 2004 from the UK and 2654 from the US. In the Australian market, half of the respondents said they would expect to receive advice on retirement from their super fund but less than a fifth said the advice they had received from their fund was useful.
Meanwhile, 53% of Australians said they would expect to seek retirement advice from a financial adviser but of those over 55 years of age who had, just 29% found that advice to be useful. In comparison, 42% of respondents from the US said they would seek advice from their retirement plan provider. Of the 34% that had turned to their provider for advice, just 9% rated it as most useful, while friends and family rated higher. In the UK, 39% of respondents said they would expect to receive advice from their pension provider. However, of those who had received advice, again just 9% said the advice their pension provider gave was most useful. In Australia, 55% of respondents expect retirement to be an event with several stages. About a third expected to work part-time in retirement, while 7% said they don’t ever expect to retire. fs
THE JOURNAL OF SUPERANNUATION MANAGEMENT•
