National Australia Bank (NAB) has moved to up the ante in the superannuation space by leveraging the structural separation of its insurance business to create Australia's largest retail superannuation fund.
The big banking group has used the structural separation process to effectively consolidate its superannuation trustee arrangements around a single fund — MLC Super Fund.
The company announced that the fund would boast around $70 billion in funds under management (FUM) and would include NAB's existing super offerings — MLC MasterKey and Plum superannuation and pensions.
Discussing the move with Super Review, MLC Wealth Advice executive general manager, Greg Miller, described the process as having amounted to a large simplification of the trustee arrangements around the various superannuation products.
He said the banking group had been progressively informing clients of the changes.
NAB superannuation and investment platforms executive general manager, Paul Carter, said the consolidation of the super fund would, over time, make it easier for customers to move between various products and features with the fund.
The transaction with Nippon Life required the structural separation of the life insurance manufacturing business and the superannuation and investments business. Prior to the consolidation process, there were eight superannuation funds under three trustees.
The two funds have announced the signing of a non-binding MOU to explore a potential merger.
The board must shift its focus from managing inflation to stimulating the economy with the trimmed mean inflation figure edging closer to the 2.5 per cent target, economists have said.
ASIC chair Joe Longo says superannuation trustees must do more to protect members from misconduct and high-risk schemes.
Super fund mergers are rising, but poor planning during successor fund transfers has left members and employers exposed to serious risks.
So what says Silkie; mine is still bigger than yours.