CSC

Name of super fund: CSC

Fund category: Public sector

Number of members: As at 30 June 2023, CSC has 745,273 customers, of which 252,256 are pensioners. Our active customers are further broken down into 190,968 members in our open defined contribution schemes and 302,049 in our closed defined benefits schemes.

Assets under management: CSC has $63.3 billion in funds under management. All dollars represent an audited value of net assets as of 30 June 2023

What types of investment strategies are offered to members?
We provide three pre-mixed investment options, plus a Cash option. All are explicitly designed to work together or separately to allow tailored risk-taking appropriate to the different stages of your working life cycle and individual circumstances. For more information please see Investment Options.

How has the fund performed over recent years?
Our risk management and portfolio decisions have enabled us to not just preserve, but grow the purchasing power of our customers’ savings in our MySuper Balanced and Aggressive options over the past financial year, despite record-high Australian inflation rates. Please see Our investment performance to 30 June 2023.

What sets CSC apart from other funds?
Portfolio resilience means that our overall portfolio retains its capacity to recover and grow to meet our customers’ long-term objectives. Independent ratings agency, SuperRatings, measures this resilience by comparing the returns that super funds generate for an equivalent risk of capital loss. PSSap’s options consistently rank above many (MySuper Balanced option) and, in some cases, all super funds (Income-Focused and Aggressive) on this basis for 10 years to 30 September 2023.

It is an independent verification of our investment philosophy to avoid more losses than peers (around 30 per cent historically) while capturing most of the upside (around 90 per cent historically) in rising markets. We do this by:

• Systematically prioritising loss prevention – that is, to cut off the left-hand side of return distributions and lean against the risk of writing down principal capital.
• Exploiting first- or early-mover advantage into future-fit investment opportunities so that we can confidently capture positive results on the right-hand side of (the return distribution) and thereby lean into sustainable net real returns, sufficient to meet our customer objectives in retirement, regardless of the macro context pertaining at that time. 

For more information, please see How we invest your money.

What has defined CSC’s success over the past few years?

• Pre-emptively acquiring high-quality private assets with revenues linked to structural trends such as healthcare and technology innovation.
• Providing capital in exchange for a revenue share to build new investment management businesses.
• Avoiding speculative bubbles like cryptocurrency.
• Acquiring unlisted assets with revenues linked to inflation before inflation was anticipated by the market.
• Reducing exposure to long-dated government bonds which have been impacted by interest rate rises.

Why should Australians choose CSC?

With over a century of experience in successfully managing the superannuation needs of the Australian government and Defence Force employees, we’re committed to you – we understand your unique needs, challenges, and financial circumstances. You benefit from our award-winning investment strategy, a century of experience, and products designed for members just like you. 

We go above and beyond, offering personalised services, support, and tailored products that align with your goals and aspirations. For more information please visit Why CSC and Awards & Innovation.