POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Single sector super funds should be performance tested
Single sector focused superannuation funds should not be excluded in the super performance test as the draft explanatory reasons to exclude them are not justified, according to CPA Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).
In its submission to the Your Future, Your Super regulations and associated measures consultation, CPA and Chartered Accountants ANZ pointed to the draft explanatory statement that said single sector options were excluded because they were “typically used in combination by a beneficiary to design their own bespoke diversified investment strategy”.
“The amendments exclude single sector investment options by requiring a trustee-directed product to contain at least two asset classes, where the strategic asset allocation for each of those classes must exceed 10%”.
However, the submission said the intention of the performance test was to assess products the trustee had control of the design and implementation of the investment strategy.
“Consequently, the majority of single-sector investment options have been designed by trustees and implemented in accordance with an investment strategy which is subject to no other similar performance mechanism,” it said.
“The corollary of this exclusion is that there would be a mechanism to measure the performance of superannuation fund investment products which would be easily available for use to measure the performance of single-sector investment options, but not actually able to do so.”
It also said the reasoning to exclude single sector investments as trustees wanted to own bespoke diversified investment strategy was not strong.
“This is also not strong reasoning, with multisector investment options also used routinely for assisting in creating bespoke investment portfolios by some investors; with other investors often using one single sector investment option to the exclusion of all others,” the submission said.
The submission also pointed to the explanatory statement that said: “[p]roducts where the only control the trustee has over the product is to either offer or not offer the product to members are excluded from the definition of a trustee-directed product”.
“This is not a realistic summation of the product-offering process by trustees,” the submission said.
“Trustees are required to undertake extensive decision-making prior to making such products available, including the design and implementation of an investment strategy, adherence to the design and distribution obligations (including target market determinations) and ongoing compliance with members' best interests requirements.
“The decision on whether to offer such a product is therefore never going to be the only control that trustees have over such products.
“We believe that it would be wasteful and inefficient to build this infrastructure, leaving Australians who use single-sector options unprotected from underperformance. We strongly urge that single-sector products be subject to performance testing.”
Recommended for you
Super funds had a “tremendous month” in November, according to new data.
Australia faces a decade of deficits, with the sum of deficits over the next four years expected to overshoot forecasts by $21.8 billion.
APRA has raised an alarm about gaps in how superannuation trustees are managing the risks associated with unlisted assets, after releasing the findings of its latest review.
Compared to how funds were allocated to March this year, industry super funds have slightly decreased their allocation to infrastructure in the six months to September – dropping from 11 per cent to 10.6 per cent, according to the latest APRA data.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI Second Close
61.07 3 y p.a(%)
2
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI First Close USD
59.21 3 y p.a(%)
3
DomaCom Lot 21 Chellaston Road Munno Para West SA 5115 Australia
31.73 3 y p.a(%)
4
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
30.15 3 y p.a(%)
5
DomaCom 4/27 Crombie Avenue Bundall QLD 4217 Australia
26.71 3 y p.a(%)
