UniSuper, the higher education and research sector, has announced it will open to new members from outside the sector from July this year.
However, the $95 billion fund said it would continue to maintain its ‘strong affinity and deep knowledge of the sector’.
Over the 10 years to 31 December, 2020, the Balanced/My Super option ranked equal first among all super funds, returning 9% per annum, the firm said.
UniSuper’s chief executive officer, Kevin O’Sullivan, said that the regulatory change and industry consolidation significantly reshaped the super sector and would continue to do so in coming years and both the higher education sector and the super industry were undergoing significant disruption.
“In this environment, scale is increasingly critical in delivering strong performance and competitive fees for the benefit of all members. We have scale now, and opening more broadly will enable UniSuper members to benefit from even greater scale,” he said.
“As the fifth largest super fund in the country and largest investor in ESG-themed strategies — with more than $10 billion in funds under management across these options— UniSuper is well placed to navigate the changing environment and welcome new members from outside the sector given our strong investment performance, leadership in sustainable investing, low fees and strong member focus.”
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UniSuper is following the trend of most so called "Industry" funds, in becoming a retail fund.
Funds such as Australian Super, REST, Care, CBus, HESTA, HostPlus, Aware, & SunSuper long ago went down this route. They are not "Industry" funds at all. They are retail funds controlled by unions. It's about time so called "researchers" updated their classifications.
APRA classifies them as 'Industry', 'Retail', 'Corporate' or ''Public Sector' and it really comes down to the Board structure... They are referred to as Industry funds because of the employee representatives on the board which come from the unions and the unions cover certain industries. I can't image anyone here wants fund's like CBUS to be called a retail fund.
"Industry funds" is a marketing brand used by union funds. The connection between unions and specific industries faded away long ago. As did the connection between members of the fund and specific industries. The only genuine industry aligned funds are actually corporate funds.
APRA shouldn't be helping unions with their deceptive marketing. They need to update their classifications. Include them with retail funds or call them what they really are...union funds.
So you're telling me that CFMEU aren't connected to specific industries? Happy for them to be called union funds but Corporate and Public Sector funds also have union representatives. They all use the equal representation model for the board and they don't call themselves Industry funds.
Call them what you want but they are not retail funds.
CFMEU is associated with multiple different industries. That's why they change their name so often.
Corporate and Public sector funds have employee (not always union) representatives, but they are controlled by the employer. Most members work (or used to work) for the employer controlling the fund.
"Industry" funds have token employer representatives, but they are controlled by the unions. Fund members are drawn from far and wide. Most of them have no connection whatsoever to any employer or union represented on the Board. That is why they are more akin to retail funds.
Hopefully this means they'll improve their admin systems. I'm struggling with something called a "Facts machine" and they told me the only way to put a once off lump sum of money in, in a single go was something called a "check" spelt cheque. My client wanted to put in more than their SGC and wanted to add $100,000. Does anyone know where I get these things called Facks and Checks? I'm interested in this facts machine, I believe you put a piece of paper in and it spits out Facts. Must be some new technology and clearly the reason they're award winning.
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