BT Super sees 19% FUM growth

1 November 2021
| By Chris Dastoor |
image
image
expand image

BT Super has seen funds under administration (FUA) grow 19% to $45 billion, while Westpac has acknowledged increased scrutiny of the performance of its MySuper products.

In an update to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) by Westpac, the bank said it had continued to work on enhancement of member outcomes and accelerating its remediation programs in its superannuation business.

“Two BT MySuper products (AESA MySuper and BT Super MySuper) failed the annual MySuper performance test for the year ended 30 June, 2021, and the BT trustee has notified relevant members of this outcome,” it said.

“If those BT products also fail the next annual performance test, the BT trustee will be precluded from accepting new MySuper members.”

Westpac noted the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) had increased supervisory focus on superannuation providers when it came to member outcomes.

“Westpac’s BT superannuation entity trustee has been responding to requests for information from APRA in relation to comparative underperformance of certain MySuper products, having regard to APRA’s MySuper ‘heat maps’,” it said.

“With increased regulatory focus on superannuation, including a number of inquiries and investigation into BT’s superannuation business, further issues requiring attention may be identified.”

Westpac said it was aware of media reports and “other publicly available material” that other class actions against were being investigated.

“In July 2020, a law firm publicly stated that it intends to commence a class action against BTFM [BT Funds Management] alleging that since 2014, BTFM did not act in the best interests of members of certain superannuation funds when obtaining group insurance policies,” it said.

“In August 2020, another law firm announced it was investing claims on behalf of persons who in the past six years acquired, renewed or continued to hold a financial product (including life insurance) on the advice or recommendation of a financial adviser from Magnitude Group, Securitor Financial Group or Westpac Banking Corporation.

“Westpac has not been served with a claim in relation to either of these matters and has no information about the proposed claims beyond the public statements issue by the law firms involved.”

It said $0.1 billion in early super release payments had been made, while net flows excluding pensions and early release of super increased by 134% from the previous year to $3.8 billion.

According to the ‘Plan For Life Platform Wrap Admin Report’ BT led in market share with 18.8%, as of June 2021 excluding corporate super.

Funds administered by the BT Investment Solutions (BTIS) arm increased 16% to $45 billion.

Overall, BT Panorama FUM increased 235% to $105 billion, compared to September 2020 following platform migrations and organic growth.

The migration of customers from BT Wrap to Panorama had been completed in July and there was now over 6,000 active users on the Panorama platform.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

10 months 1 week ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

10 months 2 weeks ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

10 months 2 weeks ago

The profit-to-member super funds are officially operating as a merged entity, set to serve over half a million members. ...

1 day 15 hours ago

Super Review announced 21 winners at the annual Super Fund of the Year Awards, including the recipient of the prestigious Fund of the Year Award....

2 days 6 hours ago

APRA data shows the CFMEU accounted for 28 per cent of super fund industrial contributions, with the shadow treasurer calling for a prompt investigation into the payments...

3 days 10 hours ago