POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Members must be at heart of merger decisions
The Royal Commission’s final report has reinforced that members’ best interests must be the determining factor in any considerations of superannuation fund mergers, after more than one fund in the last year has faced criticism over decisions not to merge.
“The determining question cannot be whether one or more of those who are directors before the merger will have a place on the new board,” Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne wrote.
He pointed to the case studies considered during the Commission as showing some recurring issues arising in this regard when possible mergers were considered by funds.
“In particular, the evidence pointed to processes related to board composition of the merged funds as being important to the success or failure of some merger proposals,” the report said.
“Likewise, care must be taken when considering whether proposals about board nomination and selection procedures for the board of the new entity are assessed according to the interests of members, or the interests of shareholders or nominating organisations of the merging trustees.”
Hayne reinforced that trustees of registrable superannuation entities (RSEs) offering MySuper products must determine annually whether the fund has sufficient scale to ensure that the financial interests of beneficiaries weren’t disadvantaged relative to those in other RSEs’ MySuper products, and that such a scale assessment should invite attention to the question of mergers.
Recommended for you
The super fund announced that Gregory has been appointed to its executive leadership team, taking on the fresh role of chief advice officer.
The deputy governor has warned that, as super funds’ overseas assets grow and liquidity risks rise, they will need to expand their FX hedge books to manage currency exposure effectively.
Super funds have built on early financial year momentum, as growth funds deliver strong results driven by equities and resilient bonds.
The super fund has announced that Mark Rider will step down from his position of chief investment officer (CIO) after deciding to “semi-retire” from full-time work.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
76.97 3 y p.a(%)
2
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
76.46 3 y p.a(%)
3
UBS Solactive Global Pure Gold Miners UCITS ETF Dis USD
51.13 3 y p.a(%)
4
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
45.15 3 y p.a(%)
5
Select Baker steel Gold Institutional
43.78 3 y p.a(%)
