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Brighter Super members enjoy double-digit returns
Brighter Super’s Index Balanced pension option delivered 16.76 per cent in calendar year 2024, while its Stable pension option returned 8.02 per cent.
Meanwhile, Brighter Super’s Indexed Balanced accumulation option returned 15.43 per cent, its Conservative Balanced accumulation option delivered 9.46 per cent, and the Balanced option returned 12.08 per cent last year.
Its default MySuper Accumulation option also ranked within the top quartile in its class, according to Brighter Super, returning 11.6 per cent.
On Monday the $34 billion fund confirmed that its members have also benefited from a reduction in percentage-based admin fees that came into effect on 1 January 2025, marking the third year in a row that it has lowered admin fees for members.
Commenting on the results, chief executive Kate Farrar said since the completion of its two mergers - namely, the merger of LGIASuper and Energy Super that first formed the fund, and its later transaction with Suncorp Super - Brighter Super has been able to deliver an average of 40 per cent in administration fee reductions across the membership.
“Brighter Super is committed to delivering exceptional value to members through strong performance and keeping fees as low as possible,” Farrar said.
“These results demonstrate the great benefits that we have delivered to our members following the mergers.”
Last year, Brighter Super’s chief investment officer Mark Rider unveiled to Super Review how the fund’s investment strategy has evolved off the back of two mergers in three years and where he sees further opportunities.
“On the investment side, given our scale now, we are more important to funds out there,” Rider said at the time.
“Our approach is one where we are not looking to internalise. We’re not aiming to have the scale where I think internalisation makes sense, so it’s working in partnership with fund managers to actually drive a return.”
One way Brighter Super is working with fund managers, the CIO said, is by increasingly looking for and participating in co-investment opportunities in unlisted assets.
Another thing that has changed, thanks to increased scale, is the ability to undertake more targeted investments, according to Rider.
“We’ve made a commitment to invest $500 million in Queensland over the next three to five years, on top of the billion dollars we’ve already got,” he explained.
“The scale that we have now means that we can do that and we’ve been pleasantly surprised as we’ve gone out to the managers and let them know what we’re attempting to do, a lot of opportunities have come up.
“We’re in the process of working through it, but there’ll be a win-win where we can invest in the communities where our members live – 85 per cent of the assets under management of Brighter Super are by people who live in Queensland – and we can also generate returns for their retirement.”
AUTHOR
Jessica Penny
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