Industry fund mergers forecast
A key executive of Australia’s largest industry superannuation fund, AustralianSuper, has predicted further consolidation within the industry superannuation funds sector.
The general manager, business development with AustralianSuper, Paul Schroder, told a Pensions and Investments Summit on the Gold Coast he believed it was inevitable that industry funds would join together in circumstances where some simply did not have the scale to adequately contain costs.
However, at the same time as forecasting further industry fund mergers, Schroder acknowledged that one of the key challenges confronting the industry super funds was retaining members once they reached pensionable age.
What is more he said that, to date, retail master trusts and financial services houses had done a better job of gaining the attention of people entering the pension stage.
“The big threat to industry funds is that members will take their money to AMP, Mercer or Plum for a pension product,” he said.
Schroder said that it was in these circumstances that industry funds, including AustralianSuper, were increasingly moving into the pension products arena.
He said that industry funds also needed to do more about providing strategic advice to employers with respect to the provision of default funds, in circumstances where he believed the retail master trusts had done a better job.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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