Rollover has seen enough change in the Australian financial services industry over the past 30 years to know that no matter how good a business might look today, its value can be changed irrevocably and quite quickly by the inevitable and steady advance of technology.
He says this because various NSW Governments have put Pillar Administration up for sale on numerous occasions over the past decade or so and the currently-incumbent Mike Baird administration may well discover that technology and market forces have combined to diminish the return the taxpayers of NSW ultimately receive.
Rollover has always known that some superannuation fund chief executives have been nervous about Pillar Administration falling into the hands of Link Market Services, and now hears that contingency plans have been discussed capable of allaying their concerns around market dominance and systems risk.
As Rollover understands it, the contingency plans are based on the astute use of technology and the willingness of another superannuation service provider to deliver member administration in a new way.
What is more, these contingency arrangements were being canvassed before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had even decided whether Link would be allowed to bid for Pillar.
None of which helps NSW Premier, Mike Baird, extract the type of return from the sale of Pillar capable of salving a political ego wounded by the Lazarus-like rise of the state’s greyhound racing industry.
Watch this space.
