“What does it matter a hill of beans which fund merges into which?” With those words, Royal Commissioner, Kenneth Hayne, indicated his feelings with respect to the failure of Catholic Super to undertake a successful merger with Australian Catholic Super Retirement Fund.
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry had been told that the proposed merger was now back on foot due to discussions between the new chairmen of both funds but that it had failed over disagreements as to which was the dominant fund.
The deputy chairman of Catholic Super, Peter Haysey, told the Royal Commission that his fund’s board had held concerns about Catholic Super not being the successor fund because of its scale and superior returns.
However, Commissioner Hayne pointed to the two funds having agreed to the two funds having agreed to having six seats each on the board of a merged fund plus an independent chair and the ability of that board to set the tone of the merged organisation.
Haysey then pointed out that the possibility of a merger between the two funds was still on foot with discussions having been restarted.
The Future Fund’s CIO Ben Samild has announced his resignation, with his deputy to assume the role of interim CIO.
The fund has unveiled reforms to streamline death benefit payments, cut processing times, and reduce complexity.
A ratings firm has placed more prominence on governance in its fund ratings, highlighting that it’s not just about how much money a fund makes today, but whether the people running it are trustworthy, disciplined, and able to deliver for members in the future.
AMP has reached an agreement in principle to settle a landmark class action over fees charged to members of its superannuation funds, with $120 million earmarked for affected members.