SUPERANNUATION – AUSTRALIA

Labor open to strip super from Fair Work

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Original article by Joanna Mather, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 31-May-18

Sources have suggested that the Australian Labor Party will continue to oppose a move to require the majority of superannuation funds’ board members to be independent. However, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen is said to be willing to support the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to shift responsibility for selecting default super funds from the Fair Work Commission to an expert panel. Meanwhile, the PC’s deputy chair Karen Chester has downplayed concerns that the super industry would be dominated by the 10 funds on the expert panel’s list.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, ACTU, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL

AMP chair to be Hayne’s biggest scalp

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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

Tasplan, CARE Super and IOOF lead monthly super satisfaction

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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

Shorten defends super cash grab

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 4 : 19-Apr-18

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has responded to criticism of a proposal to abolish cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits. He says claims that the policy could cost retail superannuation funds more than $3.75bn over 10 years are "rubbish", and he has refuted suggestions that the policy will hit pensioners. Shorten adds that taxpayers’ funds should be spend on infrastructure rather than giving cash refunds to people who do not pay tax.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Labor’s $3.75bn savings grab

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Apr-18

New data suggests that the Federal Opposition’s plan to abolish cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits would affect about 2.6 million accounts of superannuation funds that are regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. The Australian Taxation Office data shows that some 2,013 of the 2,603 APRA-regulated funds claimed such refunds in 2015-16, which totalled almost $A309m. This implies that Labor’s policy would cost such funds around $A3.75b over 10 years. Labor has claimed that only 10 per cent of APRA-regulated funds would be affected by the policy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, THE ASSOCIATION OF SUPERANNUATION FUNDS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Industry funds satisfying more at the top end

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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

Over two million superannuation members contribute above the compulsory level

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Mar-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey, which was conducted in the year to January 2018, has found that 2.2 million current superannuation members (20.8%) are paying more than the compulsory level of contributions into their fund. This compares with 25.5% of superannuation contributors in 2010 and 21.7% in 2013. The survey also shows that 45% of superannuation members with personal incomes of more than $150,000 per annum are paying beyond the Superannuation Guarantee rate, followed by those on incomes of $100,000 to $149,000 per annum (33.8%). In contrast, just 11.4% of people with earning below $25,000 per annum and 13.2% of those with annual income of $25,000 to $49,000 contribute more than the compulsory level to their super fund.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Labor’s $59b franking figure questioned

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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

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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

AusSuper becomes biggest retirement fund

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Original article by Sally Patten
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 8-Mar-18

NMG Financial Services Consulting has forecast that Australia’s industry superannuation funds will have more assets under management than retail funds by 2019. Data from NMG shows that industry fund AustralianSuper has replaced AMP as the nation’s largest super fund. It boasted some $A120bn worth of assets under management at the end of 2016-17, compared with $A118bn for AMP. AustralianSuper’s net inflows for 2017 totalled $A7bn, while many large retail funds had net outflows.

CORPORATES
NMG FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSULTING LIMITED, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, NMG FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSULTING LIMITED, UNISUPER LIMITED, REST SUPER PTY LTD, HEALTH EMPLOYEES’ SUPERANNUATION TRUST AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SUNSUPER PTY LTD, HOST-PLUS, QSUPER LIMITED, 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, STATE SUPER SCHEME, IOOF HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IFL, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, AUSTRALIA POST SUPER PTY LTD, MINE WEALTH AND WELLBEING