Equip merger sees members get big savings

Equip has announced that the fund’s recent merger with the former Rio Tinto Staff Superannuation Fund will see its 70,000+ members receive total fee and insurance premium reductions of more than $12 million in fiscal 2019, showing that mergers do indeed often result in member benefits.

Equip’s chief executive, Nicholas Vamvakas, pointed to the merger as a key reason for the reduction.

“The homework we and the trustees of the Rio Tinto fund did ahead of the merger identified that we would achieve substantial savings that would benefit the members of both funds,” he said.

“I am pleased to say that the reductions occurring from 1 July are absolutely aligned with the analysis. Fee reductions passed onto members next year will amount to around $9 million, while insurance premium reductions will be around $3 million.”

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Vamvakas said that more mergers could be on the cards for the fund.

“We still believe in the benefits of scale and we are continuing to explore opportunities for more mergers and additional corporate superannuation plans. We expect these will be by far the biggest contributors to our growth in the foreseeable future.”

He also said the consolidation of member accounts into a single database by Mercer enabled a flow-on of member benefits, such as giving access to Equip’s NextGen website and app to former Rio Tinto Fund members.