AMP rebuffed Mohl in choosing Brenner to fill chair

Original article by Karen Maley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 3-May-18

It has been revealed that AMP’s former CEO Andrew Mohl had approached acting chairman John Palmer about taking on the role of chairman following the sudden resignation of Simon McKeon in 2016. However, AMP’s board chose to appoint Catherine Brenner as chairman, and it did not even consider Mohl for the role. Brenner subsequently resigned in the wake of the banking royal commission’s revelations about misconduct at the financial services group.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AXA ASIA PACIFIC HOLDINGS LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, EGON ZEHNDER INTERNATIONAL, CLAYTON UTZ, BEST AND LESS PTY LTD

Call for clean-out of AMP board

Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 1-May-18

Institutional investors say further boardroom changes are needed at AMP following the resignation of chair Catherine Brenner in the wake of the banking royal commission’s revelations. First Super CEO Bill Watson still intends to vote against the election of three directors at the upcoming AGM, arguing that AMP directors must be held accountable. Australian Council of Superannuation Investors CEO Louise Davidson says AMP should also look at stripping bonuses from executives who were involved in the fees-for-no-service scandal. AMP has appointed Mike Wilkins as executive chairman.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, FIRST SUPER PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF SUPERANNUATION INVESTORS INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, COCA-COLA AMATIL LIMITED – ASX CCL, CLAYTON UTZ, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, IMF BENTHAM LIMITED – ASX IMF, PHI FINNEY McDONALD, SHINE LAWYERS, SLATER AND GORDON LIMITED – ASX SGH, QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART AND SULLIVAN LP

CGU, RACV and CBA have most loyal general insurance customers

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-May-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that 77.5% of Australians aged +14 with general insurance do not approach any other company when renewing their policy. An additional 14.8% approach another company but do not change their policy. The survey, which was carried out in the year to March 2018, also shows that the most loyal customers, based on the proportion of policy holders that renew without approaching another company, are with CGU (85.0%), RACV (82.8%) and CBA (82.6%). The least loyal are GIO (69.0%) and AAMI (72.7%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, CGU INSURANCE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, RACV INSURANCE, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, GIO AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED MOTOR INSURERS LIMITED, RACQ INSURANCE LIMITED, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN

AMP chair to be Hayne’s biggest scalp

Original article by Jennifer Hewett, Alice Uribe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 19 : 30-Apr-18

Institutional investors have warned that they will vote against the re-election of three AMP directors at the upcoming AGM, even if chairman Catherine Brenner resigns. She is widely tipped to step down in the wake of a board meeting on 29 April. CEO Craig Meller recently resigned after misconduct at AMP was exposed by the banking royal commission. The revelations have weighed on AMP’s share price, which has fallen to its lowest level in more than five years.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, FIRST SUPER PTY LTD, LGSS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF SUPERANNUATION INVESTORS INCORPORATED, REST SUPER PTY LTD, HOST-PLUS, AUSTRALIAN SHAREHOLDERS’ ASSOCIATION, CGI GLASS LEWIS PTY LTD, BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED, COCA-COLA AMATIL LIMITED – ASX CCL, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, BRAMBLES LIMITED – ASX BXB

Super rollover plan for SMSFs

Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 26 : 27-Apr-18

Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer is expected to announce that self-managed superannuation funds will be able to increase the number of members from four to six under new legislation. Members of SMSFs will also be allowed to roll over funds from an Australian Prudential Regulation Authority-regulated super fund using the SuperStream technology; currently, rollovers through SuperStream are only allowed from one APRA-regulated fund to another. more than 1.1 million Australians have SMSFs, which currently boast around $A700 billion worth of assets.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Tasplan, CARE Super and IOOF lead monthly super satisfaction

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Apr-18

The Roy Morgan Superannuation Satisfaction Report shows that average customer satisfaction with Australian superannuation funds was 61.1% in the six months to March 2018. This is on par with the average satisfaction level for Industry funds. Retail funds sit below the average at 60.1%, and satisfaction with major retail funds (consisting of ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac) is 58.7%. Average satisfaction with Public Sector funds and Self-Managed Superannuation funds is 72.6% and 73% respectively. Meanwhile, Tasplan has the highest satisfaction level of all superannuation funds, at 74.6%, ahead of CARE Super (71%) and retail fund IOOF (69.9%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, TASPLAN LIMITED, CARE SUPER PTY LTD, IOOF HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IFL, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

RACT leads general insurance satisfaction

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Apr-18

The Roy Morgan General Insurance Satisfaction report shows that 79.2% of Australians were satisfied with their general insurer in February 2018, down 0.4% from the same time in 2017. RACT has the highest level of customer satisfaction within the general insurance industry, at 93.5%; it is followed by Defence Service Homes Insurance (91.1%) and AMP (90.8%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, RACT INSURANCE PTY LTD, DEFENCE SERVICE HOMES INSURANCE SCHEME, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

Industry funds satisfying more at the top end

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Apr-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source shows that in February 2018, superannuation fund members with $250,000 or more had higher satisfaction with the financial performance of their industry funds compared to those belonging to either retail funds or those with a self-managed super fund. The highest satisfaction for industry funds was for those members with balances of $700,000 or more where they scored 87.8%, well ahead of SMSFs (82.5%) and retail funds (80.2%). Meanwhile, satisfaction with the financial performance of retail funds (61.4%) was higher than industry funds (49.7%) in accounts with balances of less than $5,000. For all other balances industry funds had higher satisfaction than retail funds. Of the 15 largest funds, QSuper with a satisfaction rating of 73.3% was well ahead of second-placed Cbus (68.2%) and UniSuper (67.8%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, QSUPER LIMITED, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND, UNISUPER LIMITED

Labor’s $59b franking figure questioned

Original article by Joanna Mather, Sally Patten
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 20-Mar-18

SMSF Association chair Deborah Ralston has questioned the modelling supporting Labor’s plan to scrap cash refunds for franking credits. Labor has stated that it will deliver revenue gains of $A59 billion, but Ralston contends that the modelling does not take into account the $A1.6 million limit imposed on tax-free superannuation pensions in 2017. For its part, Labor claims that the Parliamentary Budget Office did take the new limit into consideration when costing its proposal.

CORPORATES
SMSF ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC, MONASH UNIVERSITY

Super sows seeds in agriculture

Original article by Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: 18 & 22 : 12-Mar-18

Hostplus chief investment officer Sam Sicilia says the $A700 billion industry superannuation fund sector wants to boost its investment in agriculture. However, it does not want to do so in an ad-hoc fashion, such as by acquiring individual dairy farms, as investing in this fashion yields lower returns than from other investments, such as infrastructure. He says that the sector is thinking of setting up a joint investment company that would have the backing of major industry funds.

CORPORATES
HOST-PLUS, VICSUPER PTY LTD, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FIRST STATE, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, RETAIL EMPLOYEES SUPERANNUATION PTY LTD