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(April-2004) Burns charges up energy super fund
Equipsuper chief executive, Robin Burns has spent more than 20 years in the financial services sector including as an accountant and working for brokers, but he feels a real commitment towards superannuation.
Perhaps that explains why Burns has been at the forefront of all the recent initiatives announced by Equipsuper as it positions itself to deal with the changing legislative and regulatory environment currently facing the superannuation sector,
In the space of only a month, Equipsuper has announced it has called tenders for the fund’s member administration, that it is putting in place a partial public offer regime, that it has simplified its product offering and that it has dropped its switching fee.
According to Burns, all these initiatives flow from a desire to keep Equipsuper attractive to members in an increasingly competitive environment.
He says that Equipsuper has recognised the rapidly changing environment in the superannuation sector, not least the fact that large not-for-profit funds are no longer competing with the likes of AMP and Mercer in the corporate outsourcing stakes, but against each other.
“Our competitors are getting bigger and we have had to deal with that,” Burns says.
Perhaps Burns’s desire to ensure Equipsuper remains competitive is born of his own competitive nature (he is an avid motorcyclist and competitive cyclist) and the success the fund has already achieved in the corporate superannuation outsourcing stakes.
The fund announced in January that it had scored a significant win by picking up the Ansell and South Pacific Tyres employee superannuation funds.
It said that the Ansell and South Pacific Tyres funds would transfer in April, increasing funds under management to more than $200 million and membership to 5500.
The transfers see Equipsuper pass $2 billion in funds under management and 30,000 members.
Burns says that passing the $2 billion funds under management mark represents an important milestone in the fund’s history.
“It highlights that we are continuing to compete successfully with some of the most established and well-resourced funds in the business, and winning major corporate accounts,” he says.
Burns says that the changes announced by Equipsuper during March were probably the most far-reaching in the past half-decade.
The motivation for Equipsuper’s strategy changes and major announcement is simple. Positioning in the new highly-competitive post-FSRA regime.
Burns says that in an increasingly competitive environment, the low fee advantage offered by not for profit funds such as Equipsuper is not an appropriate differentiator when other major not-for profit players are entering the fray.
As well, he says that the likelihood of lower margins among the big commercial players also need to be factored into the equation.
Burns says that, moving forward, the initiatives announced in recent weeks will result in changes to the scope of Equipsuper, not least the formation of its rollover division.
When Burns announced that Equipsuper had invited tenders for the fund’s member administration services he referred to the “many changes in the superannuation industry in recent years”.
“Our fund is also undergoing and planning substantial change — transitions that will require both capability and flexibility on the part of our administrator,” he says.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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