Australian Catholic Super (ACS) has awarded Parametric with another $60 million to manage under its tax-managed indexing (TMI) strategy, as the fund re-commits to the strategy it began in early 2016.
The original agreement saw ACS offer Parametric a TMI mandate for part of its international equities portfolio with the intent of offering fresh solutions to boost members’ net returns.
“We wanted a stronger focus on net returns, as opposed to gross returns, as we know this is what improves members’ retirement incomes,” ACS chief executive, Greg Cantor said.
“We pride ourselves on being an innovative fund that is always looking to find fresh ways to improve member returns, and the TMI strategy reflects this approach.”
Parametric’s Australasian CEO, Chris Briant, welcomed the mandate, which reaffirmed the Australian relevance of the TMI strategy that was prevalent in the US.
“To be recognised by ACS for our after-tax and implementation skills was important to us, so we are enormously pleased that two years on, ACS has decided to re-commit to the strategy,” he said.
“Parametric has been managing passive portfolios with an after-tax focus in the US since 1992, and we firmly believe that Australian super funds need to balance their appetite for more passive investment styles with a genuine after-tax investment focus.”
In its pre-election policy document, the FSC highlighted 15 priority reforms, with superannuation featuring prominently, urging both major parties to avoid changing super taxes without a comprehensive tax review.
The Grattan Institute has labelled the Australian super system as “too complicated” and has proposed a three-pronged reform strategy to simplify superannuation in retirement.
Super funds delivered a strong 2024 result, with the median growth fund returning 11.4 per cent, driven by strong international sharemarket performance, new data has shown.
Australian Ethical has seen FUM growth of 27 per cent in the financial year to date.