On Background

This week, the team reports back from the Investment Magazine Fiduciary Investors Symposium, covering CPP Investments’ use of frontier AI models, ART’s fact-finding trip to China and how Australian asset owners are investing in emerging markets.  

Darcy Song also reports on the Women in Super conference in Melbourne, which saw the launch of a 10-point policy document calling for increased data collection spanning super, the Age Pension, housing and private savings to create a more equitable retirement system.

Superannuation’s consolidation wave thinned the ranks of small funds and set a widely cited $30 billion floor for viability. But the chief executives of two funds well below it say that floor no longer decides who survives — and that member services and a willingness to pilot new ideas now count for more than purchasing power.

 Meanwhile, only eight of 45 super funds received a “tick” designation from the Epic Retirement Institute in its latest assessment of retirement offerings, but the research firm that carries them out says the standard of funds’ retirement offerings is nevertheless improving overall.

This week, APRA has proposed requiring super trustees to limit members’ exposure to high-risk investment options as part of a package the regulator expects to have the greatest impact on platform trustees following the $1 billion collapse of Shield and First Guardian. The team dig into the announcement and examine its potential consequences.

Meanwhile, The Conexus Institute has proposed that super funds take a closer look at creating contingency accounts for members in the drawdown phase, and competition in Australia’s OCIO space is heating up.

Welcome to Investment Magazine On Background, the podcast series where our experienced team of journalists take you behind the news and dig into the context behind the biggest stories shaping Australia’s asset owner landscape.

This week, ASIC commissioner Simone Constant singled out super fund chief investment officers for failing to ask their external managers whether they meet the regulator’s ten principles of private credit done well. The team dig into her speech and discuss why the corporate cop is taking aim at super funds.

Meanwhile, the $160 billion UniSuper is looking for new ways to tap into the AI thematic without stuffing the private markets portfolio with data centres.

Hosted by Investment Magazine editor Lachlan Maddock, joined by Retirement Magazine editor Simon Hoyle and APAC correspondent Darcy Song. Join the conversation every Friday. Produced by Harvey McKay with marketing content by Jack Smith.

Welcome to Investment Magazine On Background, the podcast series where our experienced team of journalists take you behind the news and dig into the context behind the biggest stories shaping Australia's asset owner landscape.

This week, Niall O’Sullivan, the global chief investment officer of Marsh (formerly known as Mercer), warned that asset managers were increasingly adopting the language of the total portfolio approach to tailor pitches to asset owners  that had embraced it. Darcy Song discusses her key takeaways from her interview with O’Sullivan. 

Simon Hoyle also reports on new research showing that the age of SMSF establishment is falling as more investors look to take control over their financial future, with much of the money coming out of profit-to-member funds. 

Hosted by Investment Magazine editor Lachlan Maddock, joined by Retirement Magazine editor Simon Hoyle and APAC correspondent Darcy Song. Join the conversation every Friday. Produced by Harvey McKay with marketing content by Jack Smith.

This week, One Nation proposed letting renters and mortgage holders divert part of their employer super contributions into take-home pay for up to three years. The team discusses why the industry's standard response isn't landing, what the policy would mean for admin systems, and where the money would actually go.

Simon Hoyle also reports back from Kevin Rudd's National Press Club address, "The Complacent Country", which named seven areas where Australia needs greater national resilience. The team covers where super funds fit into them, and the nation-building assets they are – and aren't – willing to touch.

Hosted by Investment Magazine editor Lachlan Maddock, joined by Retirement Magazine editor Simon Hoyle and APAC correspondent Darcy Song. Join the conversation every Friday. Produced by Harvey McKay with marketing content by Jack Smith.

At the tail of last week, MUFG Pension & Market Services announced that it will acquire smaller rival Grow Inc in a further consolidation among the superannuation administration services; the team unpacks what this means for the industry's competition dynamics.

On the retirement front, the team examined what are the two phases of retirement super funds need to get across, as proposed by the Conexus Institute, and why most funds are only good at the first.

On Wednesday, Future Fund CEO Raphael Arndt announced he would be stepping down from the role. Investment Magazine journalists examine what the change will mean for Australia’s sovereign wealth fund and what its leadership might look like amidst a wider changing of the guard. Meanwhile, ASIC is worried about the “first significant cracks” in Australian private credit and APRA has released the latest YFYS performance test results – with one notable failure.

Hosted by Investment Magazine editor Lachlan Maddock, joined by Retirement Magazine editor Simon Hoyle and APAC correspondent Darcy Song. Join the conversation every Friday.

Welcome to the pilot episode of On Background, a new weekly series from Investment Magazine where our experienced team of journalists take you behind the news and digs into the context behind the biggest stories shaping the superannuation industry.

On Wednesday, Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino delivered a speech at the National Press Club that confirmed the ability of APRA-regulated super funds to deliver personalised and relevant guidance and financial advice to members, as the government sought to revive the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms. Investment Magazine journalists report from Canberra on what was said and how it's landing. Meanwhile, APRA is cracking down on funds over cyber security and geopolitical risk frameworks.

Hosted by Investment Magazine editor Lachlan Maddock, joined by Retirement Magazine editor Simon Hoyle and APAC correspondent Darcy Song. Join the conversation every Friday.