POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Positioning will save us: NGS Super
Brand strength and niche positioning will be deciding factors in the survival of small to medium superannuation funds as the industry continues to consolidate chief executive of Non-Government Schools (NGS) Super Anthony Rodwell-Ball said.
According to Rodwell-Ball, superannuation funds need to respect the brand value they bring and the feel they create for their members.
"Our board sees no value in diluting the strong niche position that we've got, so we would really want to maintain that niche position in order to survive," he said.
Having hundreds of thousands of members with no common linkage would make it hard to maintain high levels of service and member engagement, he said.
The fund's target market was the professional community-focused sector, with education at the centre making up approximately 60-65 per cent and the remainder in credit unions, mutuals and some aged, health and child care from the UC Super merger in March, according to Rodwell-Ball.
Rodwell-Ball personally dealt with complaints arising from documents with his name on it and has about three dozen members that contact him directly with their queries.
"While everyone's screaming scale and arguing for the benefits of scale, you still have to be able to maintain as personal a relationship with the member as you can, and that's hard when you get up to the many hundreds of thousands of members," he said.
But NGS Super has not ruled out any possible mergers, Rodwell-Ball said.
"As long as the fit was right and we don't become an all-things to all-people multi-employer multi-industry fund … there are some clear and obvious potential marriages in the industry generally. There are a number of sectors where you could see key consolidation - I think education is one of those," he said.
He said competition between superannuation funds was good because it made the industry perform better.
AUTHOR
Staff Writer
Money Management staff writers are writers who contribute to the website from time to time. If you would like to discuss the content contained within this article please contact us.
Recommended for you
Vanguard Super has reported strong returns across most of its investment options, attributed to a “low-cost, index-based approach”.
The fund has achieved double-digit returns amid market volatility, reinforcing the value of long-term investment strategies for its members.
Australian super funds notched a third consecutive year of strong returns, with the median balanced option delivering an estimated 10.1 per cent over the 2024-25 financial year, but an economist has warned that the rally may be harder to sustain as key risks gather pace.
AustralianSuper has reported a 9.52 per cent return for its Balanced super option for the 2024–25 financial year, as markets delivered another year of strong performance despite the complex investing environment.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom 465 Calder Road Calder
99.46 3 y p.a(%)
2
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
95.46 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
78.55 3 y p.a(%)
4
BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF
50.39 3 y p.a(%)
5
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
47.50 3 y p.a(%)
