Fall-out from the Royal Commission is continuing to play out in the superannuation industry with at least a dozen corporate superannuation fund boards reviewing arrangements and considering changing outsource providers.
Tender consultants contacted by Money Management have confirmed unprecedented levels of work generated by the boards of corporate superannuation funds looking to review their current outsource arrangements.
The confirmation of the number of reviews underway has come barely two months following Australia Post’s confirmation that it had opted to end its long-standing outsourcing arrangement with AMP Limited and move to AustralianSuper.
The tender consultants did not specify AMP but said that the current review process involved mainly medium to large corporates, none of which were currently using industry superannuation funds such as AustralianSuper.
In the wake of the Royal Commission a number of corporate superannuation outsource providers including both AMP and IOOF Limited have come in for scrutiny .
The tender consultants said that given the pace of the review processes, it was likely to be a number of months before final decisions were made, possibly in the final quarter of the calendar year.
While AMP Limited earlier this year acknowledged the loss of AustralianSuper corporate super mandate, it also said that in the past 12 months it had continued to win new mandates while growing some existing mandates.
The status of the AMP corporate superannuation business is expected to become clearer when the company announces its full-year results to the Australian Securities Exchange next month.
The profit-to-member super funds are officially operating as a merged entity, set to serve over half a million members.
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.
A research firm has given UniSuper a glowing review, praising its strong leadership and “compact team”, as well as its “creditable governance” structure.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has defended the government’s plan to modestly cut tax concessions for Australia’s wealthiest superannuation accounts, saying it is a “fairer outcome”.