Superannuation fund trustees must communicate with their members to ensure they are prepared for another prolonged period of negative returns.
That is the bottom line assessment of the chief executive of the Qantas Superannuation Plan, Janet Torney, who told an Asset Allocation Summit in Sydney this week that while members had been very calm to date, they had only been through one period of negative returns.
“I think people are going to get one more year of negative returns and they are going to be quite large negative returns, and I think where communication is concerned, we need to be prepared,” she said.
Torney said, thus far, funds had only seen the first wave and that there was likely to be a lot more concern down the line.
Torney along with other fund executives addressing the summit said they had not, as yet, seen much evidence of members switching funds or allocations as a result of the market downturn.
