Colonial First State (CFS) has announced a partnership with Challenger, Generation Life and BlackRock to deliver its most comprehensive, whole-of-life retirement income and wealth management solution.
Through the partnership, CFS plans to roll out the largest expansion of its retirement offering and introduce a whole-of-life retirement model designed to allow clients to transition from accumulation to retirement easier and with greater flexibility and income security.
Looking at the role of each firm, CFS said the expanded relationship with Challenger will see broader integration of the latter’s innovative retirement income solutions (IRIS) and full suite of annuity capabilities across all CFS platforms.
At the same time, Generation Life’s investment-linked IRIS will also be integrated on CFS First Choice, as well as its investment bonds which will also be available on the CFS Edge platform.
As for BlackRock’s role, members will benefit from its global investment and retirement capabilities, as well as its experience delivering LifePath Paycheck in the US which is an integrated target date strategy that provides the ability for eligible participants to purchase a guaranteed income stream for retirement.
“Together, these alliances will provide CFS members with greater choice and flexibility in how they generate income and transfer wealth over time.
“Members will have access to lifetime income solutions combining fixed, CPI and investment-linked annuities, with account-based pensions, alongside flexible and tax-effective investment bond structures, and digital tools designed to support more confident decision-making across long-term and intergenerational planning,” it said.
The coming together of these solutions will, CFS said, create a comprehensive retirement offering within a single environment, making it easier for advisers to deliver whole-of-portfolio service covering wealth management, income and estate planning.
New solutions are set to start hitting the market from August when the Retirement Income Optimiser will launch on the FirstChoice platform, as well as a Pension Bons feature for eligible members. From there, more solutions will be introduced gradually over the next 12 months.
CFS Superannuation chief executive, Kelly Power, said the expansion reflects a material capital commitment from the firm to help support retirement outcomes through a comprehensive solution.
“By bringing together best-in-class global investment capability, local market-leading lifetime income expertise and tax‑effective structures, this integrated offering is designed to meet the increasingly complex financial needs of Australians. It recognises that retirement is no longer a single event, but a long-term financial journey that requires different solutions over time,” Power said.
Challenger managing director and CEO Nick Hamilton said: “What’s powerful about this partnership with CFS is how naturally our organisations fit together. But the real significance goes beyond partnership mechanics. CFS is embedding lifetime income at scale, and this collaboration tackles one of the hardest and least‑solved problems in the retirement system – how to turn savings into income for life.”
Jason Collins, head of Australasia at BlackRock, said: “Working alongside Generation Life, we look forward to contributing to the next phase of growth as CFS expands the retirement toolkit for advisers and members, and moves towards more integrated, end-to-end retirement solutions that help more Australians experience financial wellbeing.”
Generation Life CEO Felipe Araujo added: “Generation Life is proud to be selected as a partner of choice by CFS to help co-develop next-generation wealth management and retirement solutions. Australia’s retirement system is entering a new phase, where advice delivery is keeping pace with the increasingly dynamic needs of Australian retirees.
“This alliance represents one of the first truly integrated retirement ecosystems of its kind in Australia, bringing together income, tax efficiency and intergenerational wealth planning in a more connected way to better support Australians through retirement and across generations”
