SUPERANNUATION – AUSTRALIA

Room for unions to work with super funds: Combet

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Apr-19

Industry Super Australia chairman Greg Combet says he has no concerns with union officials raising industrial relations issues with trustees of superannuation funds. However, he stresses that trustees must be mindful of their duty to act in the best interest of fund members when considering such issues. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority recent advised that trustees must not be influenced by "sponsoring organisations" in carrying out their duties. Combet has previously been ACTU secretary and a Labor minister.

CORPORATES
INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, GLENCORE PLC

Feast of double-digit super returns is over

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Original article by James Kirby
The Australian – Page: 26 : 17-Apr-19

New data shows that both balanced and growth superannuation funds achieved a return of just 0.8 per cent in March. The low returns mean super funds may struggle to deliver strong returns for the financial year, after global financial market volatility weighed on returns in the December quarter. Super funds have returned an average of just 3.2 per cent so far in 2018-19, and balanced funds are now unlikely to maintain their recent track record of double-digit returns for the full year.

CORPORATES
SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Industry funds to reach $2trn within 10 years

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Apr-19

KPMG has forecast that Australia’s superannuation industry will boast $5.4trn worth of funds under management by 2029, compared with just $2.7trn at present. The firm’s 2019 Super Insights report also forecasts that industry funds will manage $2trn in 2029, up from $631bn in 2019. Paul Howes of KPMG says union-backed industry funds must ensure that they comply with the ‘sole-purpose test’ as their dominance of the super industry increases.

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, SUNSUPER PTY LTD, HOST-PLUS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, MLC LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, BT FINANCIAL GROUP PTY LTD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

Satisfaction with industry funds increasing while total market satisfaction declines

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Apr-19

The latest findings from ‘The Roy Morgan Superannuation Satisfaction Report’ shows that industry funds improved their satisfaction rating by 0.9% points (to 62.1%) in the year to February 2019. Satisfaction with retail funds fell to 55.7% (down 3.5% points), and satisfaction with self-managed super funds was 73.4% (down 0.1%). The report shows that industry funds have higher satisfaction than retail funds across all balances. Over the last year, retail funds have shown declines in satisfaction at all levels, with the biggest decline being a drop of 14.3% for members with balances of less than $5,000. There was also an 8.0% point decline for those with balances of $700,000 or more. Meanwhile, of the 15 best performing industry and retail funds, Unisuper with a satisfaction rating of 71.2% was well ahead of second placed HESTA (68.3%) and Cbus (66.6%). The report is based on in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 consumers per annum in their homes, including over 30,000 superannuation fund members.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UNISUPER LIMITED, HEALTH EMPLOYEES’ SUPERANNUATION TRUST AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND

Shorten slaps down union super bosses

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 20-Mar-19

The union movement continues to attract scrutiny for using industry superannuation funds to promote its industrial relations agenda. Labor leader Bill Shorten says the legal requirement of super fund trustees to act in the best interests of members overrides any other allegiances they may have. ACTU president Michele O’Neil recently urged super funds to use their influence as investors to ensure that companies offer secure and well-paid jobs. O’Neil is an alternate director on the board of AustralianSuper, which is partly owned by the ACTU.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, TWUSUPER, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, EQUIPSUPER PTY LTD, SUNSUPER PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Treasurer’s super war on activists

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 4-Mar-19

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants to ensure that union-appointed trustees of industry superannuation funds do not seek to pursue political objectives at the expense of members’ interests. Industry funds currently manage $631 billion worth of assets, with this figure tipped to increase to over $1 trillion by 2024; boards of industry funds are equally represented by trustees from employers and unions. Frydenberg’s concerns have been sparked by union calls for funds to pressure BHP and BlueScope Steel to reverse a decision not to renew a contract for Australian-crewed ships that carry iron ore.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, ACTU, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, UNITED VOICE, AUSTRALIAN SERVICES UNION

Industry super wins $11b from retail

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 27-Feb-19

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show that retail superannuation funds’ outflows totalled $10.9bn in 2018, compared with just $3.5bn in 2017. Industry funds benefited from the bearish sentiment toward retail funds. AustralianSuper’s funds under management rose by 17 per cent to $140bn, lifting its market share to 5.7 per cent. AMP, which was highly criticised by the Hayne royal commission, remains the nation’s largest retail super fund. It boasts some $123bn worth of funds under management, although its market share has fallen below five per cent.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Industry Superannuation Funds increase lead in satisfaction with performance

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Feb-19

New research by Roy Morgan shows that members’ satisfaction with the financial performance of industry superannuation funds was 62.1% in the six months to January 2019, compared with 57.3% for retail super funds. Satisfaction with retail funds was 1.6% below that of industry funds in 2018, and this gap has now increased to 4.8%. Eight of the top 10 performing super funds, based on satisfaction with their financial performance, were industry funds in January 2019. The highest rating was for Catholic Super (72.1%), followed by Unisuper (70.8%). The only two retail funds to make it to the top 10 were Macquarie (65.9%) and Colonial First State (60.4%). These results are from the newly released Roy Morgan ‘Satisfaction with Financial Performance of Superannuation in Australia January 2019’ report. The data in this latest report represents some of the findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey, which is based on in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 consumers per annum in their homes, including over 30,000 with superannuation. Results presented here are based on interviews conducted in the six months to January 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, CATHOLIC SUPER, UNISUPER LIMITED, MACQUARIE SUPERANNUATION, COLONIAL FIRST STATE SUPER

The 2018 8th Annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards: Banking and Finance Winners

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-Feb-19

Australia’s most satisfying banks, insurers and superannuation funds have been announced at the 8th Annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards. In a very difficult year for banking with the Royal Commission, declining trust, combined with disrupters, it is a major achievement to be rated the number one bank for customer satisfaction. The winner in a very crowded field has to be a strong performer, and this honour goes to Heritage Bank. For the sixth year running, the Commonwealth Bank has claimed the annual award for Major Bank of the Year, driven in particular by strength in mobile and internet banking satisfaction. People’s Choice Credit Union is again the winner in the category of Building Societies and Credit Unions, while RACT has won the General Insurer award for the fourth year in a row, with a clean sweep of the 12 monthly titles. Meanwhile, not-for-profit health fund St Luke’s Health has again won the Private Health Insurer award, while Macquarie and Catholic Super are retail and industry super fund of the year respectively.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, HERITAGE BANK LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, PEOPLE’S CHOICE CREDIT UNION, RACT INSURANCE PTY LTD, ST LUKE’S HEALTH INSURANCE, MACQUARIE SUPERANNUATION, CATHOLIC SUPER

Contractor stuns AMP with identity data theft

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Original article by James Frost, Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 8-Feb-19

Former AMP contractor Yi Zheng has pleaded guilty to possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence. Police records reveal that he downloaded 20 identity documents one morning in October when working at AMP’s Kent Street office in Sydney, then sent them to his home email account before deleting them from his desktop. After AMP’s security system revealed that Zheng had downloaded a dark-web browser onto his AMP laptop, the laptop was taken from him and he was escorted from the building. He was later arrested at Sydney Airport when trying to flee to China. Zheng will be sentenced on 21 March.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP