How much do your super fund trustees get paid?

Note: This article includes the remuneration data and related party transactions for major industry super funds (Cbus, HESTA, AustralianSuper and CareSuper). We update this article periodically when additional super funds disclose the salary packages of executives or trustee directors. If you have previously read the introduction to this article, then head to the second half of the article for the lowdown on remuneration for the key staff and directors of these super funds. Article last updated 17 October 2012.

In an industry first, one of Australia’s largest super funds has disclosed what its top executives, and its board of trustees receive, individually, in salary and other financial benefits.

Congratulations Cbus, industry fund for the building and construction industry, for taking a leadership role in disclosing executive and director pay, and also for disclosing related party and sponsorship arrangements. The details of salary levels for Cbus executives and trustee directors are set out at the end of the article.

Other super funds are expected to follow with full disclosure of remuneration for top executives and board of trustees. When they do disclose this information, we will update this article with this data. Since first publishing this article, HESTA, AustralianSuper and CareSuper have also disclosed remuneration data. This article is now updated with the figures for these super funds.

Note: SMSF trustees cannot accept payment for acting as trustee of a self-managed super fund.

It has always bemused me that multi-billion dollar financial organisations such as superannuation funds can produce consumer-friendly marketing documents and present them as annual reports. From a pragmatic point of view, there is definitely a struggle to balance bombarding fund members with important but complex information, while also engaging readers with limited but more readable information.

As marketing and communication tools, the annual reports to fund members, produced by most super funds, are useful for fund members to get a better grasp of what is happening to their superannuation savings, and to highlight major changes to the super laws that may affect fund members. Many years ago I was involved in helping to write these reports and they certainly serve an important role informing and education fund members. Such reports however do not function as financial analysis tools for consumers, journalists and rating companies to analyse the operational effectiveness of the organisation.

The major gap in the reports produced by most super funds is that there is no information available on what actually happens to the fees that these super funds charge to members. The information supplied in the current version of annual reports does not enable fund members to decide whether the super fund can justify the level of fees when compared with other super funds operating in the same space. Rating companies help fill this information gap, but members should at least receive a fee breakdown, and where those fees end up, for their own super fund.

Note: I understand that many super funds now permit some access to official financial accounts. In many cases, a fund member can request access to the full audited financial accounts, but they need to contact the super fund directly.

Cbus remuneration: 2011/2012 annual report

Set out below is the remuneration data extracted from the 2011/2012 Cbus annual report. Cbus looks after nearly $19 billion of retirement savings for just under 700,000 Australians. Similar information from some other major super funds will also be published when it becomes available.

Note: We will not be publishing any reader comments that seek to criticise the level of pay a particular Cbus director or executive has received. SuperGuide’s intention in reproducing the remuneration of Cbus directors and executives is not to make them a target for personal criticism, but to help fulfil the purpose of full disclosure and to expand the discussion on greater transparency. High-level roles do command high incomes because large super funds need to ensure they secure suitably skilled and qualified staff, and super funds do compete with other financial organisations for quality employees. On that point, whether retail super funds follow the lead of Cbus is questionable, considering the salaries of banking executives, who often sit on retail super fund boards, are likely to make your eyes boggle.

Cbus has committed $40 million on an administration platform upgrade, as part owner of administration service provider, SuperPartners. Cbus also spent $1.4 million of members’ funds on sponsorship deals, primarily in partnership with related unions and other employee associations.

Table 1: Cbus top executives – total remuneration packages
Executive	Position	Total remuneration packages
David Atkin	Chief Executive Officer (CEO)	$500,000
Chris Altis	Executive Manager, Marketing and Communications	$219,450
Maria Butera	Executive Manager, Workplace Distribution	$242,650
Trish Donohue	Executive Manager, Investments	$379,800
Sean Leonard	Executive Manager, Product Strategy and Strategic IT	$258,159
Johanna Neilsen	Executive Manager, People & Culture	$168,000
Stephen Spiller	Executive Manager, Organisational Strategy and Service Delivery	$232,100
Angela Thurstans*	Executive Manager, Governance and Risk	$213,000
Keith Wells-Janz	Executive Manager, Finance	$273,337

*A. Thurstans is paid 0.8 FTE of the full-time package indicated.

Table 2: Cbus trustee board and board committee fees
Trustee Director	Sponsoring organisation	Fees* paid to	Total fees paid
Steve Bracks	ACTU	Director	$105,907
John Dawkins	Independent	Appointed May 2012	Nil
W Harnisch	Master Builders Association (MBA)	MBA	$78,198
J Haskins	MBA	Director	$44,661
P Kennedy	MBA	Director	$82,553
G Thompson	AMWU	AMWU	$55,199
S Benyon	MBA	Director	$38,381
G Kearney	ACTU	ACTU	$23,852
R Mallia	CFMEU	CFMEU	$31,997
A McDonald	MBA	Director	$40,407
C Melham	AWU	Director	$48,816
J Murray	MBA	Director	$46,891
D Noonan	CFMEU	CFMEU	$46,790
F O’Grady	CFMEU	CFMEU	$32,099
P Smith	MBA	Director	$48,918
P Tighe	MBA	CEPU	$38,381
Alternate Director
T Ayres	AMWU	AMWU	$4,255

*Fees paid personally to directors, or to the MBA, or to various unions (in relation to 7 of the directors).

HESTA remuneration: 2011/2012 annual report

Set out below is the remuneration data and related party information extracted from the 2011/2012 HESTA annual report. HESTA has not disclosed the remuneration packages for its top executives. HESTA looks after $20 billion of retirement savings for 750,000 Australians. Similar information from some other major super funds will also be published when it becomes available.

HESTA has relationships with the following service providers:

• HESTA has a 30% share in asset consultants, Frontier Investments and HESTA paid Frontier $2.34 million in fees. The chair of HESTA, Angela Emslie, is also the chair of Frontier Investments.
• HESTA owns 17% of administration services company, SuperPartners, and This company provides administration to HESTA.
• HESTA owns 16% in Industry Super Holdings which includes subsidiaries, Industry Funds Management (IFM looks after $3.4 billion of HESTA’s investment pool), Industry Fund Services (IFS provides financial planning services to HESTA members), and Industry Fund Services Insurance Broking (IFSIB provides insurance services to HESTA).
• HESTA owns 17% of ME Bank, and ME Bank manages the Super Member Home Loans program and the Super Loans Trust, and HESTA had $250 million in cash held with Me Bank.
• HESTA’s chair, Angela Emslie is partner of Garry Weaven. Garry Weaven is on the board of ISH, ME Bank and Chair of IFM.
• HESTA owns 3.7% of ISPT, which is the trustee and manager of four unlisted direct investment property trusts which HESTA invests in ($1 billion).

Table 3: HESTA trustee board and board committee fees
Trustee Director	Sponsoring organisation	Fees* paid to	Total fees paid
A C Emslie (Chair)	ACTU	Director	$76,030
B H Holmes (Deputy Chair)	ANF	NSW Nurses Association	$47,646
J A Bonnington	Catholic Health Australia	Director	$43,705
G L Bunney	ACSA	Director	$20,448
Y M Chaperon	ANF	Australian Nursing Federation (ANF)	$42,425
R J A Elliott	HSU	Director	$13,463
K Jackson	HSU	Director	$10,288
R Kelly	HSU	Medical Scientists Association	$20,928
T D Lyons	ACTU	ACTU	$36,015
E R Mohle	ANF	Queensland Nurses Union	$40,073
M S O’Halloran	ACSS	DirectorWelfare Rights Centre	$19,845$22,000
P H Power	AHHA	Director	$32,410
R N Royle	APHA	Uniting Care Health	$38,573
K L Shay	United Voice	United Voice WA	$29,780
A J Smith	ACAA	AJ&BJ Smith P/L	$40,345
D Smith (alternate director)	ASU	Australian Services Union	$19,785
L Williams	HSU	Health &Community Services Union	$19,205
K Zimmerman	ACSA	Director	$16,470
Total director fees			$589,794

*Fees paid personally to directors, or to various associations, or to various unions

AustralianSuper remuneration: 2011/2012 annual report

Set out below is limited remuneration data extracted from the 2011/2012 AustralianSuper annual report. AustralianSuper looks after $46 billion of retirement savings for 1.9 million Australians. AustralianSuper has not disclosed related party transactions in the annual report, but will make this information available in early November 2012 when the audited financial statements become available. We will publish this information when it becomes available.

Table 4: AustralianSuper top 5 remunerated managers
Executive	Position	Total remuneration packages
Ian Silk	Chief Executive Officer (CEO)	$586,767
Mark Delaney	Deputy CEO and Chief Investments Officer	$560,041*
Peter Curtis	Head of Investment Operations and Service	$365,531*
Jason Peasley	Head of Infrastructure	$347,000*
Innes McKeand	Head of Equities	$346,931*

*No bonuses were paid to investment staff due to not meeting all performance objectives

Table 5: AustralianSuper trustee board and board committee fees
Trustee Director	Sponsoring organisation	Fees* paid to	Total fees paid
E Rubin (Chair)	ACTU	Undisclosed	$160,984
J Ingram (Deputy Chair)	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$81,750
L Di Bartolomeo	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$36,406
B Daley	ACTU	Undisclosed	$66,926
P Howes	ACTU	Undisclosed	$50,358
J Lawrence	ACTU	Undisclosed	$33,136
S McGurk	ACTU	Undisclosed	$74,120
D Oliver	ACTU	Undisclosed	$25,615
T Poole	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$112,815
H Ridout	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$29,866
A Terry	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$40,654
G Willis	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$72,812
Alternate Directors
N Apple	ACTU	Undisclosed	$27,250
P Burn	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$23,980
P Grant	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	$3,238
L O’Brien	ACTU	Undisclosed	$19,838
G Stamas	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$4,283
R Symons	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	$5,832
D Whiteley	ACTU	Undisclosed	$16,568
Non-Director Committee Members
G Ashton	n/a	Undisclosed	$50,358
L Jerkovic	n/a	Undisclosed	$5,559
M Nicolaides	n/a	Undisclosed	$9,156
B Watchorn	n/a	Undisclosed	$8,884

*Fees paid personally to directors, or to various associations, or to various unions

CareSuper remuneration: 2011/2012 annual report

Set out below is remuneration data and related party transactions extracted from the 2011/2012 CareSuper annual report. CareSuper looks after $4.6 billion of retirement savings for 180,000 Australians.

Table 6: CareSuper trustee board and board committee fees
Trustee Director	Sponsoring organisation	Fees* paid to	Total fees paid
Sandy Grant (Chair)	Undisclosed (employer group)	Undisclosed	$55,836
Cate Wood (Deputy Chair)	ASU	Undisclosed	$48,945
Michael O’Sullivan	ASU	Undisclosed	$54,415
Sue-Anne Burnley	SDA	Undisclosed	$39,212
Michael Want	ASU	Undisclosed	$40,766
Barry Watchorn	Ai Group	Undisclosed	$51,732
John Burge	NIBA	Undisclosed	$41,105
Angela Emslie	VECCI	Undisclosed	$40,425
Gabriel Szondy	Independent	Self	$40,617

CareSuper has relationships with the following service providers:

• Shareholder of ME Bank. CareSuper holds investments with ME Bank.
• Shareholder of Industry Super Holdings (ISH), and Industry Funds Management (IFM) and Industry Fund Services are subsidiaries of ISH. CareSuper holds investments with IFM.
• CareSuper trustee chairman, Sandy Grant, held a directorship in another organisation in which CareSuper invests, namely he was a director of IFS.
• CareSuper trustee directors, Cate Wood (deputy chair) and John Burge both held directorships on two related bodies representing CareSuper interests, namely Industry Super Property Trust and ISPT Grosvenor International Property Trust.