CBA targets Gen Y with new super product
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and its wealth management division Colonial First State (CFS) have rolled out a simple superannuation offering which targets unadvised Gen Y customers.
The product, called Essential Super, will be offered through the bank’s online platform Netbank as a companion product to transaction accounts owned by the customer.
CFS executive general manager Linda Elkins told Money Management the group had typically been providing superannuation to people as part of the financial planning process.
“This is definitely our move to provide superannuation to more people and in particular those that are customers of the Commonwealth Bank,” Elkins said.
The default option - Lifestage - would place customers into an investment mix based on their age and which changes as they enter different age groups. Customers will also be able to choose their own balanced, Australian shares or cash options.
The primary target is younger people starting out in their job who are looking for a simple product that’s easy to take with them throughout their career in their life,” Elkins added.
“While we’re not out there targeting industry super funds - we’re targeting CBA customers - the segment I described probably at the moment are customers of industry funds.”
The money will be managed by the FirstChoice multi-manager team, which manages close to $25 billion and operates under the supervision of general manager for product and investments, Peter Chun.
“We’re leveraging the asset allocation and the manager selection of that team,” Chun said.
“The reason why we branded it Essential Super is when we did customer research - this offering was going to appeal to people that don’t want the complexity of lots of investment choice.”
Essential Super, which is marketed as a low-maintenance, low-cost super solution, will be rolled out to CBA customers in July.
Another major bank, Westpac, had also recently launched a marketing campaign aiming to raise awareness about superannuation among the Generation Y customer-base and target them with its own low-cost super offering.
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