While increasing numbers of superannuation funds are choosing to insource service delivery to members, only the mega-funds are really capable of appropriately bringing investment management in house.
ClubPlus Super chief executive, Paul Cahill, told a Platforms and Wraps conference there is scope for superannuation funds to go it alone on elements of service delivery to members, but there are some functions such as investment management which require scale.
He said his fund had brought a number of functions in-house and that it was likely that this would continue to be the case, particularly where his fund believed it could deliver increasing value to members.
However, Cahill said he believed it was unlikely that comparatively smaller funds such as ClubPlus would bring investment management significantly in-house, as this was something was something that required scale.
"That is something for the mega-funds," he said.
Cahill said he believed that while superannuation funds might well deliver a MyPension product in similar terms to the way in which they had delivered MySuper products, annuities represented an entirely different proposition.
"Annuities require very large account balances and that is not all that common," he said.
New research has shown that investing in alternative assets and using active management has, to this point, delivered strong results for Australian super funds.
Australia’s $4 trillion superannuation industry is fundamentally reshaping the nation’s external accounts, setting the stage for a more sustainable current account surplus despite weaker commodity markets.
Rest has expanded its portfolio of renewable energy infrastructure by supporting a Victorian solar farm and battery project.
Economic growth was weaker than expected, once again highlighting an economy largely sustained by population growth and government spending.