Australian Catholic Superannuation (ACS) has appointed Frontier Advisors as its asset consultant, taking over from Willis Towers Watson, citing a lack of product conflict with Frontier as central to its decision.
Frontier would assist ACS with investment strategy and portfolio construction advice, as well as providing access to its highly-regarded technology platform for manager research insights and portfolio analysis.
ACS was the third super fund to sign up with Frontier in the last year, with the Frontier chief executive, Andrew Poulson, saying the recent client additions were down to a unique proposition.
“As both the regulatory and investment landscape look set to become more challenging, the unconflicted nature of our offering is becoming increasingly valued by more investors,” he said.
ACS chief executive, Greg Cantor, said that while Frontier’s market performance across a range of metrics were a selling point for the firm, a key factor was that “from a governance perspective, the alignment of interests that an independent consultant offers was very important to our Board”.
Compared to how funds were allocated to March this year, industry super funds have slightly decreased their allocation to infrastructure in the six months to September – dropping from 11 per cent to 10.6 per cent, according to the latest APRA data.
AMP has made its first foray into bitcoin, confirming a modest allocation to the cryptocurrency, according to its senior portfolio manager.
Fund returns bounced back in November following a subdued October, with SuperRatings reporting 2.4 per cent return for the median balanced option.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn has announced it has reached a settlement with MLC over a class action alleging delays in transferring members to MySuper products.