POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Crescent Wealth to apply for YFYS exemption
With Your Future, Your Super (YFYS) scheduled to apply to Choice superannuation funds from 1 July, Crescent Wealth, an Islamic based super fund, will seek an exemption on religious grounds.
Speaking to Super Review, Crescent Wealth founder, Talal Yassine, said the super fund has spoken with its trustee and had discussions with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and representatives from the Government and the opposition, including Senator Jane Hume, minister for superannuation, financial services and the digital economy and Labor’s financial services spokesperson Stephen Jones.
“What this would mean is that the performance of Crescent Wealth would be measured against an index determined by the regulator. We welcome accountability but the issue for us is that the benchmark we would be measured against would not be an Islamic investing index,” he said.
“Crescent Wealth invests in industries and companies that comply with Islamic guidelines. We do not invest in companies that produce, market and profit from alcohol, weapons, tobacco and adult materials that other super funds invest in.
“The Islamic investment approach means that sometimes our investment performance is different to conventional markets, although we tend to outperform in down markets. Our members understand this and strongly support our ethical and faith-based approach.
“We exist because we are different and Islamically compliant. For us to be measured fairly and for apples to be compared with apples we need to have our performance measured by an Islamic investing index.”
Yassine said Crescent Wealth will seek an exemption from the next stage of YFYS and asked that it was measured against an independent Islamic investing index appropriate for an Islamic super fund.
Yassine said he was “100% supportive” of Labor’s pledge late last year to allow APRA to take into account the religious affiliation of a super fund when applying the performance benchmark.
He said YFYS performance tests could present an existential threat to faith-based super if the Government de-legislated choice for Australian Muslims.
“But I am optimistic accommodations can be made that will resolve this issue. We will look with interest at what the next federal government will do in this space after the election.”
Recommended for you
Super funds had a “tremendous month” in November, according to new data.
Australia faces a decade of deficits, with the sum of deficits over the next four years expected to overshoot forecasts by $21.8 billion.
APRA has raised an alarm about gaps in how superannuation trustees are managing the risks associated with unlisted assets, after releasing the findings of its latest review.
Compared to how funds were allocated to March this year, industry super funds have slightly decreased their allocation to infrastructure in the six months to September – dropping from 11 per cent to 10.6 per cent, according to the latest APRA data.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI Second Close
61.07 3 y p.a(%)
2
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI First Close USD
59.21 3 y p.a(%)
3
DomaCom Lot 21 Chellaston Road Munno Para West SA 5115 Australia
31.73 3 y p.a(%)
4
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
30.15 3 y p.a(%)
5
DomaCom 4/27 Crombie Avenue Bundall QLD 4217 Australia
26.71 3 y p.a(%)
