POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
TWUSuper members largely exempt from insurance changes
The majority of members of TWUSuper are unlikely to be caught up in the Federal Government’s new changes to insurance in superannuation because they are working in what are deemed to be a dangerous occupations.
That is one of the bottom lines of a submission filed with the Senate Economics Legislation Committee this month, with The TWUSuper submission suggesting that the majority of its members would not be impacted by the Government’s changes scheduled to come into force on 1 April because they would be covered by the dangerous occupation exemption.
“TWUSuper has consulted with its actuary to determine the feasibility and likelihood of the application of the exemption in relation to its membership. An analysis of the occupations of TWUSuper members indicates that the vast majority (95%) are in manual occupations,” it said.
“Occupation data collected from the fund’s largest employers provides evidence that the majority of the manual occupations are likely to be in dangerous occupations and covered by the dangerous occupation exemption.
“This means that the majority of members may continue to be covered by default insurance on an opt out basis and TWUSUPER will be unique in its ability to continue to provide the financial protection to its members and their families in the event of a death or serious illness or injury that prevents the member returning to work.”
TWUSuper also pointed to significant flaws in the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APREA’s) approach to heatmaps, using its submission to claim the heatmaps involved some significant classification errors which led to the fund comparing unfavourably with other funds.
The industry fund said that it was supportive of efforts to improve transparency in the superannuation sector and welcomed APRA’s decision to publish comparative data, but added “we are concerned the heatmap published by APRA misrepresents TWUSuper’s investment performance”.
“APRA’s initial heatmaps classified TWUSuper’s infrastructure and property assets as 100% listed when in fact they are almost entirely unlisted,” it said. “TWUSuper’s investments in unlisted infrastructure and property were classified as 100% growth when compared to some funds whose infrastructure and property assets were classified 75% growth and 25% defensive.”
The superannuation fund claimed this, and other classification errors had skewed TWUSuper’s investment risk rating, giving it a growth rating of 78%, when in fact it should be 71% growth.
“Without these misclassifications TWUSuper would compare favourably in APRA’s heatmaps,” it said.
Recommended for you
Governor Bullock took a more hawkish stance on Tuesday, raising concerns over 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(%)
