Energy Industries Superannuation Scheme (EISS) has announced its intention to sell FuturePlus Financial Services, its administration and support services business.
EISS chief executive Alex Hutchison said the administrator was competitively placed and profitable, but better suited to an administration or financial services company that wanted to add scale in a "rapidly" consolidating industry.
The decision to sell came after internal and external reviews, Hutchison said.
Reports last year prompted the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to request an assessment from the trustee as to the fund's risk tolerance to its investment in FuturePlus.
EISS became sole owner of the administration business in 2010 after Local Government Super (LGS) sold its share and a merger between the pair was called off.
APRA questioned whether the fund would need to provide future funding to ensure FuturePlus complied with Stronger Super regulations and wanted confirmation of the administrator's abilities to uphold service levels after significant changes were made to its management structure.
The sale of FuturePlus - which currently acts as administrator for a number of funds including Super Money Eligible Rollover Fund, EISS and LGS - will be overseen by ICS Advisory and EISS.
FuturePlus services over 200,000 members with funds under administration of $10 billion.
The research house has offered a silver lining after super fund returns saw the end of a five-month streak last month.
A survey of almost 6,000 fund members has identified weakening retirement confidence, particularly among those under 55 years of age, signalling an opportunity for super funds to better engage with members on their retirement journey.
The funds have confirmed the signing of a successor fund transfer deed, moving closer to creating a new $29 billion entity.
A number of measures, including super on Paid Parental Leave, funding to recover unpaid super, and frameworks to encourage investment in the energy transition, have been welcomed by the superannuation industry.
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