AustralianSuper has taken out the Best MySuper Investment Option award at the Super Fund of the Year Awards 2018, with the Heron Partnership’s judging panel praising its investment options.
The judges said that the option’s “excellent long-term investment history, very competent in-house investment team managing 28 per cent of assets, and [ability] to access investment opportunities not available to many funds” were all key to its victory.
AustralianSuper group executive of membership, Rose Kerlin, told Super Review at the awards ceremony that there were multiple benefits to having the fund’s investment team in-house, saying that it planned to grow that 28 per cent.
“We’re able to use our scale to bring our team inhouse, which cuts out management fees,” Kerlin said. These savings can then be passed onto members.
“The talent we’ve been able to get and the insights they’ve had has let us get into investments first is another strength.”
Kerlin praised the team for having their “finger on the pulse” and being “talented and very passionate”.
She also said that AustralianSuper was focused on transparency with members, and that seeing that rewarded would reinforce the need to do that and motivate staff to do so.
Outside of investment choices, the judges were also impressed by the AustralianSuper option’s low-cost structure and focus on improving engagement with digital enhancements.
The judges considered the following criteria when determining AustralianSuper as the winner:
- Type of option (LifeStages or Single Diversified)
- Member understanding
- TAA range
- Level and type of active/passive management
- Investment performance; and
- Ease of understanding.
For LifeStages options, whether the structure included cohorts and those cohorts’ age band periods and curve shapes were also taken into account.
