In what represents a key consolidation in the non-Government schools arena, the trustee boards of the Non-Government Schools Superannuation Fund (NGS), the Independent Schools Superannuation Trust (ISST) and the Catholic Church Staff Superannuation Fund of South Australia (CCSSF) have announced they will be merging.
The merger, announced late on Thursday, will see the creation of a $1.7 billion fund by the February 1 next year, with the Non-Government Schools Superannuation Fund become the successor fund.
The trustee boards said that initially, the assets of ISST would be merged with NGS super assets on July 1 this year, with the resultant 75,000 member fund becoming the dominant superannuation provider in the non-Government schools sector in NSW, the ACT and South Australia.
The remaining part of the merger involving the Catholic Church Staff Superannuation Fund of South Australia will be completed by February 1 2006, having followed an extended tender process initiated by the fund’s board.
Commenting on the merger decision, the chair of NGS Super, Gloria Taylor attributed it to the cost burden associated with licensing and compliance in today’s environment.
She said this had caused the funds to look seriously at the benefits of a larger scale operation.
“The two funds have very similar membership profiles, investment choices, pension offerings and the combination of staff from both organisations provides a perfectly balanced and well-resourced trustee office,” Taylor said.
The chair of ISST, Stephen Mathwin said that the fund had been planning to be a part of a national fund for non-government schools for many years and this process had been hastened by the impact of Australian Prudential Regulation Authority licensing and other regulatory requirements.
The chairman of the CCSSF(SA) board, Michael Critchley said that the tender process initiated by the fund had unearthed the choice of a number of excellent funds.
“We chose NGS because it is cost competitive, its insurance design is suited to our members current arrangements and its investment strategy looked appropriate in today’s environment,” he said.
