(December-2003) A real Asset to the superannuation industry

The year 2003 has been a big one for Michael Dwyer with ASSET signing up around a dozen new clients and being listed as one of the third fastest growing super funds, in revenue terms, in BRW’s Top 500 Private Companies report. This growth has helped the fund’s assets soar to $610 million — a huge leap from the $482 million it managed at the end of June 2002.

According to Dwyer, ASSET’s low cost structure and attractive investment options have meant it has become the “token industry fund” put into tenders these days. And it has been winning some of these, including, most recently, the Salvation Army Australia Eastern Territory’s super fund which has estimated assets of between $16-20 million.

The ASSET brand has also been given a boost with ASSET being one of the few funds — other than the Melbourne-based industry funds involved in the Bernie Fraser campaign — to actively advertise itself, which it does on radio, regional TV and also through infomercials.

Our panel ranked Dwyer as one of the “energised fund executives” who goes beyond acting just for their own fund and who has made a wider contribution to the industry.

Dwyer is a director of the Fund Executive Association Limited, which he helped set up. He plays an active role in the Industry Funds Forum and is a member of the Australian Stock Exchange Index Advisory Panel.

He has also had a long involvement with the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), and is chairman of its member services and divisional services committees. Indeed, Dwyer’s passion is education and he is particularly pleased about how proactive ASFA has been in this area.

Dwyer is also a director of Australia for UNHCR, the national Association for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). While he recently visited East Timor in this role, his main focus is on fund raising which is why he recently invited a host of superannuation industry stalwarts to a breakfast which raised more than $35,000.

When he’s not at work or raising money, Dwyer says he is kept extremely busy by his wife and four children. “If I didn’t have such a supportive family, I would not be able to do what I do,” he notes, adding that he also enjoys tennis, walking and reading in his spare time.