First State opens FirstChoice to corporate super market

Colonial First State has added a new corporate superannuation component to its recently launched FirstChoice master trust platform, providing members of corporate super plans with access to 38 of the trust’s 47 investment options.

Colonial First State head of corporate superannuation Jack McCartney says the corporate super component was always a planned feature of the FirstChoice range of products.

“We’re seeing a trend in outsourcing [of superannuation], and we want to be part of that,” he says.

He says the product will be distributed amongst the independent financial advisers already distributing the FirstChoice master trust suite of products. The fee structures available to advisers will be flexible, which McCartney believes is quite unique.

“We’ve designed flexibility into this product for advisers,” he says. “Rather than standard trail commissions, advisers can segregate their membership and make different fee structures for different clients.”

Advisers can receive up to 0.44 per cent in trail commissions.

A feature McCartney says is unique and which he expects to appeal to advisers and potential employer clients is the fact that the corporate super product will have no entry or exit fees.

“It was important to keep the product simple,” McCartney says. “As a result, we designed the product with nil entry/nil exit and no switching fees when changing managers.”

FirstChoice Employer Super will target mid to large size companies with 50 to 1000 employees in their superannuation finds, as well as advisers involved in the corporate super market.