Finalists for this year’s Chant West Super Fund of the Year award have shared how they navigated this year’s market volatility to provide strong returns for members.
There were 10 funds nominated for the award, to be presented at a ceremony in Sydney on 25 May.
Peter Chun, chief executive of UniSuper, said the fund’s conservative options had performed well thanks to low exposure to high beta sectors, higher Australian equity allocations and high levels of cash.
“Over the last year it’s been a mixed bag and our conservative options have performed really well. This is due to relatively low exposure to high beta sectors, higher Australian equity allocation and high levels of cash.
“On the other hand, growth-oriented options haven’t performed as highly due to greater exposure to high beta sectors such as global IT and healthcare but their long-term performance remains strong.”
Kristian Fok, chief investment officer at Cbus, said it had been challenging for the fund to weather recent market volatility.
“The more recent market environment has been challenging with 2022 calendar year to date exhibiting elevated volatility as the market continues to navigate the ongoing uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the war in Ukraine. The impact of these factors can be seen in the shorter-term absolute performance across the market.
“At Cbus, we build resilient portfolios, focused on long-term performance, which are designed to weather short-term market uncertainty. Pleasingly, the recent market volatility has reinforced the resilience of our diversified investment approach.”
For Australian Retirement Trust, chief executive Bernard Reilly, said the fund was pleased to be nominated after successfully completing its merger between QSuper and Sunsuper earlier this year to create a $200 billion super fund.
“Our members’ best financial interests are the heart of everything we do, and we’re excited for the opportunity to leverage our size and scale to be an enduring force for good for our members.
“Being nominated is a testament to the hard work of our people and their dedication to improving the retirement outcomes of our members.”
The full list of finalists for the Super Fund of the Year award were:
- AustralianSuper
- Australian Retirement Trust – QSuper
- Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings (ex Sunsuper)
- Aware Super
- CareSuper
- Cbus
- HESTA
- Hostplus
- TelstraSuper
- UniSuper
Super Review is the media partner for the awards
