K: Financial and Insurance Services

Smaller funds hit in super grab

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Original article by Lachlan Moffet Gray
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 9-Feb-21

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority shows that a total of $36.4bn was withdrawn from superannuation funds via the federal government’s early access scheme. This was well below the Treasury’s initial forecast of more than $42bn. Members of Australian­Super withdrew more than $5bn in total, although this accounts for just 2.5 per cent of the industry giant’s assets. In contrast, some $21.18m was withdrawn from the Grosvenor Pirie Master Superannuation Fund, which equates to 14 per cent of its asset base.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY,AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY,AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD,GROSVENOR PIRIE MASTER SUPERANNUATION FUND

Under-insurance risk in super: Cbus

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Original article by Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: 13 & 14 : 25-Jan-21

Cbus CEO executive Justin Arter has called for the government to exempt workers in high-risk jobs from the ‘stapling’ provisions of its proposed superannuation legislation. Under the legislation, a person’s superannuation fund would be the first fund that they signed up for. Arter notes that many of its members work in dangerous roles, but that 80 per cent are not first-time workers and would have super funds from their previous occupations; he is worried they risk being under-insured under the government’s proposals. He says Cbus offers superior insurance for people killed or injured while working, with Cbus insurance paying out $298 million in claims in 2019-20.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND

Top-placed super funds defy virus chaos

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 22 : 22-Jan-21

Suncorp’s Multi-Manager Growth Fund was Australia’s best-performed superannuation fund in 2020, according to research house SuperRatings, returning 9.6 per cent. It was followed by Australian Ethical’s balanced option, which returned eight per cent, and Vision SS’s balanced option, which returned 6.2 per cent. The median return for super funds in 2020 was 3.3 per cent, while the S&P/ASX 200 index fell by 1.45 per cent over the same period.

CORPORATES
SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN ETHICAL SUPERANNUATION PTY LTD, VISION SUPER PTY LTD

Rise in failures a pointer to future

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 17 : 15-Jan-21

Michael Fung of PwC and Sal Algeri from Deloitte expect the rate of business failures in Australia to be higher than usual in 2021. The federal government has wound back some of the COVID-19 support measures that helped businesses to stay afloat during the virus-induced economic downturn, while the JobKeeper scheme is slated to be phased out in March. Data from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission supports the view that a rise in insolvencies is likely; an average of 60 companies were placed in external administration in the final two weeks of 2020, compared with 13 during the same period in 2019.

CORPORATES
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Data risk alert in NZ reserve bank file hack

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd, David Swan
The Australian – Page: 14 : 12-Jan-21

Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Adrian Orr says the central bank is treating a data breach as a top priority, and the National Cyber Security Centre has been informed of the incident. Orr says the hackers had targeted Accellion rather than the RBNZ’s own computer systems; Accellion provides a third-party file-sharing service which the central bank uses to share and store sensitive information. Spotless is among the Australian companies that were targeted by hackers in 2020, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned in June of a rise in cyber attacks in both the public and private sectors.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, ACCELLION INCORPORATED, SPOTLESS GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Investment bankers brace for deal blitz

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Original article by Tim Boyd
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 11-Jan-21

Australian investment bankers are upbeat about the outlook for mergers and acquisitions activity in 2021. John Pickhaver of Macquarie Capital says local companies are likely to attract interest from foreign suitors, given Australia’s comparative success in combating COVID-19. James Disney of Credit Suisse expects private equity firms to actively pursue acquisitions in 2021. There was a spike in M&A activity in the fourth quarter of 2020, although data from Dealogic shows that the value of announced deals for the full year reached a 10-year low of $US63.2bn ($81.4bn).

CORPORATES
MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

Don’t cut support too quickly: Judo

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Weekend Australian – Page: 19 & 24 : 9-Jan-21

Judo Bank’s joint CEO Joseph Healy has warned of the potential for a surge in small business insolvencies in the June quarter. Healy notes that insolvencies are currently about 35 per cent lower than comparable periods due to factors such as COVID-19 support measures, and he has cautioned the federal government against phasing out support packages for the small business sector too quickly. Meanwhile, Healy is upbeat about the outlook for the small business-focused ‘challenger’ bank, despite the recent decision of rival Xinja to withdraw from the banking sector.

CORPORATES
JUDO BANK PTY LTD, XINJA BANK LIMITED

New year tech floats pipeline bulging after late 2020 surge

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Original article by Yolanda Redrup
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 14 : 11-Jan-21

Beforepay, Marketplacer and Vinomofo are among the companies that are believed to be looking to pursue an IPO in 2021. Technology stocks are expected to be among the leading IPO candidates again, following the sharemarket debuts of companies such as Nuix and Hipages in late 2020. ASX Limited’s Max Cunningham says the success of Nuix’s IPO demonstrates the strong interest in high-growth technology companies. However, Paul Bassat of Square Peg Capital says companies should delay an IPO if they have doubts about being ready to go public.

CORPORATES
BEFOREPAY, MARKETPLACER, VINOMOFO, NUIX LIMITED – ASX NXL, HIPAGES GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HPG, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, SQUARE PEG CAPITAL PTY LTD

Proposed super changes anti industry funds

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Original article by Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: Online : 5-Jan-21

ACTU assistant secretary Scott Connolly claims the federal government’s Your Future, Your Super legislation will disadvantage the $750 billion industry superannuation fund sector. Connolly notes proposed investment performance comparisons for "low-budget" MySuper accounts only include investment returns and exclude administration fees. He says industry funds typically charger lower administration fees, and Connolly claims the federal government is favouring for-profit super funds under the legislation. The proposed investment performance comparisons in the legislation currently only apply to the low budget MySuper sector, which industry super funds currently dominate.

CORPORATES
ACTU

Failed Xinja scored secret China lifeline

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 14 : 21-Dec-20

Xinja recently handed back its banking licence to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority following its failure to secure a $433 million injection from Dubai-based World Investments, while sources have stated that Xinja failed to secure any monies from Australian institutional investors. It has been revealed that Xinja secured a multimillion-dollar capital injection from a "shadowy" Chinese company during 2019, but that it kept the investment a secret; it is believed the company in question was called Happy Sino Steel.

CORPORATES
XINJA BANK LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, HAPPY SINO STEEL, WORLD INVESTMENTS