POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
(December-2002) Taking on Goliath for corporate funds
Nic Brookes, CEO of the Corporate Superannuation Association (CSA), may not have a high profile, but our panel believed that he has a lot of influence with the politicians when lobbying on behalf of corporate funds.
“The pollies invite Nic to come along to senate select committees and other hearings… And he certainly draws all the big hitters from the various parties to come and address his members,” said one panelist.
Brookes now speaks on behalf of 54 large corporate super funds, with combined assets of $64 billion and which together account for over 85 per cent of the corporate super sector.
What gives him particular satisfaction, he says, is that the CSA grew its membership by over 30 per cent over the past year at a time when corporate super shrank. Looking ahead, he says the CSA will probably only take on another six members and then shut its doors. “We are effective because we keep our numbers tight.”
Brookes views his organisation as a David fighting many Goliaths. The latest one, he notes, is choice-of-funds.
What helps the CSA, he says, is that it is apolitical. But because it has limited resources, it has to focus carefully on targets it can actually hit.
The CSA’s victories over the past year include ensuring that recommendations made by the Super Working Group (SWG), to enforce capital adequacy requirements on super funds and provide APRA with powers to set prudential standards, have been dumped. Brookes adds that the CSA was also a lead player in demanding that a cost benefit analysis be done on all SWG recommendations.
Brookes and his family live a country life “like hillbillies” 65 km north of Melbourne. What little free time he has is spent studying a Masters in International Business through the University of Melbourne.
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