Industry funds AustralianSuper and AUST(Q) Super have announced an ‘in principle' agreement to merge.
The proposed merger would see AUST(Q) Super's 17,000 members and over $204 million in funds under management (FUM) transferred to AustralianSuper.
The decision to merge would allow AUST(Q) Super members to leverage AustralianSuper's size and scale and provide the capability to access its investment performance and low fees, AustralianSuper chief executive Ian Silk and AUST(Q) Super chief executive Bob Henricks said in a joint statement.
"With growing competitive pressure and increasing demands on the super fund industry, we believe our members will be best served by the scale of a larger fund such as AustralianSuper, who can also provide a strong Queensland presence," Henricks said.
Silk said the fund would be looking to increase its presence in Queensland further to provide its expanded Queensland member base of 260,000 with improved services.
AustralianSuper currently has over two million members and over $62 billion in funds under management.
Superannuation assets have fallen in the March quarter primarily due to negative investment returns amid sharemarket volatility.
QSuper has agreed to an in-principle settlement of nearly $70 million over claims it failed to notify members of life insurance premium changes.
ASIC is not done with death benefits, commissioner Simone Constant warned trustees this week, stressing that the corporate regulator remains focused on driving a step change in how member services are delivered.
For AustralianSuper, private assets are a steady, grounding component of its investment strategy, one helping the fund mitigate risk and smooth returns, especially when public markets are volatile.