It was the long-awaited superannuation fund launch, a global asset manager seeking to take a share of Australia’s trillion-dollar industry.
Vanguard Super was launched in December but had seen numerous delays to its launch.
April 2021:
The firm announced its plans to launch Vanguard Super, with Michael Lovett appointed as Vanguard Australia head of superannuation, and named four directors to its board.
November 2021:
In order to work through licensing regulatory requirements, the firm announced it had to delay the launch until 2022.
Lovett said: “The current climate has only strengthened our resolve to support Australians in managing their retirement savings in a way that will enable financial peace of mind, and to contribute meaningfully to Australia’s superannuation system”.
May 2022:
By 2022, the market was getting restless but there was still no sign of the product or a launch date. When contacted by Super Review, the firm said it was “taking the time to get things right”.
August 2022:
Some good news for Vanguard in August when it was granted a registrable superannuation entity by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). The company publicly set a date to launch by the end of the year.
8 November 2022:
To a sceptical audience at the AFR Super & Wealth Summit in Sydney, Vanguard Australia managing director, Daniel Shrimski, reassured them the fund was still on track to launch by the end of the year.
11 November 2022
Days after Shrimski’s public appearance, the firm finally announced the launch of the product offering “simplicity, transparency and a low-cost investment approach to deliver a highly sophisticated but easy to understand superannuation offer”.
The offer would be an accumulation product called Vanguard Super SaveSmart, which included a MySuper default fund called Lifecycle, plus a range of index-based diversified and single sector investment options.
