Addressing recommendations in the Quality of Advice Review around digital advice, UniSuper CEO Peter Chun has voiced his support of personalised digital experiences for superannuation fund members.
“Consumers, members, they want to engage digitally, and it’s a huge opportunity for super funds to do more in that space,” Chun told audience members at the Association of Superannuation Funds Australia (ASFA) Conference in Brisbane.
“When I’ve been thinking about this report, there’s an element here [about] greater personalisation. It’s less general advice and more personal advice. That’s very powerful because it enables us to do more digitally.”
Highlighting that digital tools could assist in lifting member engagement with their super fund, he said: “When we think about personalisation, the gold standard is Netflix, and I joke with my team internally that we want to be the Netflix in retirement.
“It’s about giving personalised experiences to our members around tools, calculators, personal advice, digital advice, hybrid. Ultimately, I think this is what our members want from us.”
Speaking at a panel alongside Quality of Advice reviewer Michelle Levy, Chun commended the “well drafted” report, noting that it supported the policy agenda around the Retirement Income Covenant for super funds.
“Trustees, I don’t believe, are able to satisfy the covenant without providing more personal advice to our members,” he observed.
“It’s expected that 3.6 million Australians are going to retire over the next 10 years and they represent in excess of three quarters of a trillion dollars of retirement savings.
“Super funds need a more detailed understanding of their needs, their circumstances, and the current law doesn’t permit that.”
Funds were very well placed to give advice to provide information, education, and guidance to their members, he affirmed, with some 60% of consumers expected to turn to their super fund for this.
“The data is compelling. Our own data shows that those who have received financial advice are much more engaged, active, and highly satisfied.
“The net promoter score (NPS) of advised members are, on average, two or three times higher than our average fund member NPS.
“They’re twice as likely to make investment choices, and for those who have had comprehensive advice from UniSuper, over 95% of those strategies are implemented.
“So naturally, we’re very well placed to give advice,” Chun said.
