Two retail superannuation products and an industry superannuation fund have received the highest ratings to be named Top Rated Products in the 2016 Heron Quality Star Ratings.
Industry fund Hostplus was named top-rated Personal Product, while the top-rated corporate product was Plum Superannuation Fund and the top-rated pension product was AMP Signature Super Allocated Pension.
Commenting on the ratings, the Heron Partnership's managing director, Chris Butler noted that while the AMP and Hostplus products had received top-rated status in the past, it was the first occasion on which Plum Superannuation Fund had been recognised.
According to the Heron Partnership analysis, 97 superannuation products had been rated as outstanding.
Where MySuper products were concerned, the Heron Partnership found 53 products worthy of its five-star rating, with the company noting that it had taken into account the type of option (LifeStages or Single Diversified), the reliability of the historical return history, the potential member confusion and degree of difficulty to transfer the ADAs, the TAA range, the level and type of active/passive management, actual or indicative historical investment performance, ease of understanding, and fee based on the PDS disclosure.
The full Heron tables will be published in the February edition of Super Review.
The Heron Partnership is Super Review's research partner for the annual Super Fund of the Year Awards sponsored by BNP Paribas.
The research house has hired an experienced product specialist for its Australasian team.
An experienced communications specialist is joining the industry group in a newly created role.
The $46 billion investment corporation owned by the government of South Australia has hired an experienced investment professional to its leadership.
The $300 billion fund has appointed a new CRO to drive its governance capabilities.