POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Industry funds most merger-resistant, says APRA
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has dismissed industry fund suggestions that independent directors will stand in the way of fund mergers, claiming it is industry funds who have exhibited most merger resistance.
Giving evidence before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee APRA deputy chair, Helen Rowell said the regulator had seen no evidence that independent directors might potentially slow down merger activity with respect to subscale funds.
“We have seen no evidence of that,” she said. “In fact, our experience to date would be that there seems to be more resistance in the industry-fund space around differences of view about composition of board and entitlement to board seats than we have seen in the retail sector with independent directors.”
Asked whether Industry Super Australia was right in suggesting that there had been more mergers in the subscale space between industry funds than there had with respect to retail funds, Rowell said the reality was that there had been a relatively limited number of mergers in any sector the last 10 years.
“We have probably seen a little bit more of consolidation in the retail sector,” she said. “In particular, the structures are quite different. In industry funds, you've typically got single trustee, single fund, whereas in retail you've got a trustee with a number of products where we've seen consolidation of those products, so it's actually difficult to objectively compare the relative merger activity between those two segments because of the different structures.”
Recommended for you
Governor Michele Bullock took a more hawkish stance on Tuesday, raising concerns over Donald Trump’s escalating tariffs, which sent economists in different directions with their predictions.
Equity Trustees has announced the appointment of Jocelyn Furlan to the Superannuation Limited (ETSL) and HTFS Nominees Pty Ltd (HTFS) boards, which have oversight of one of the companies’ fastest growing trustee services.
Following growing criticism of the superannuation industry’s influence on capital markets and its increasing exposure to private assets, as well as regulators’ concerns about potential risks to financial stability, ASFA has released new research pushing back on these narratives.
A US-based infrastructure specialist has welcomed the $93 billion fund as a cornerstone investor.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
33.51 3 y p.a(%)
2
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI Second Close
32.68 3 y p.a(%)
3
DomaCom Lot 21 Chellaston Road Munno Para West SA 5115 Australia
31.62 3 y p.a(%)
4
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI First Close USD
31.36 3 y p.a(%)
5
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
29.60 3 y p.a(%)
