Super news for May 2021

UniSuper set to open fund

The industry superannuation fund for the university and higher education sector – UniSuper – has announced it will open its fund to the public from July this year.

The $95 billion fund, which is already the fifth largest superannuation fund in the country, said it would welcome members from outside the higher education and research sectors from 5 July 2021.

UniSuper chief executive officer Kevin O’Sullivan cited increased disruption in the higher education and superannuation industry as reasons for the decision, along with the importance of scale.

“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.

UniSuper’s growth investment option (also its MySuper option) ranked equal first for annual performance over the decade to December 2020, according to Chant West data, averaging 9% per annum.

AustralianSuper and Club Plus Super in merger talks

Club Plus Super and AustralianSuper have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ahead of a period of due diligence as the two parties work towards a potential merger.

Club Plus Super Chief Executive Stefan Strano said exploring the benefits of a merger was in the best interests of the fund’s members.

“Our declared purpose is to ‘support and enhance the journey of our members to retire on their own terms.’ While most of our members join us at the start of their working lives, we recognise they need support across all stages of life, through careers that may span multiple industries,” Mr Strano said.

“We have been very impressed through this process with the steadfast member-first culture of AustralianSuper.”

AustralianSuper Chief Executive Ian Silk said the initial discussions between the two parties showed an alignment of values and is hopeful this can lead to a positive outcome for members of both funds.

“Members of the two funds have many similarities coming from a wide range of workplaces and being focussed on the delivery of strong long-term performance,” Mr Silk said. “This is a great opportunity for our two funds to get to know each other better as we work through the due diligence period.”

COVID-19 early access scheme primarily used to pay bills

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has confirmed that the majority of people who accessed their superannuation under the COVID-19 early access scheme last year, used it to pay household bills.

The ABS Household Financial Resources report found that of the people that accessed the scheme by September 2020, 29% mainly used the funds to pay their mortgage or rent, while 27% used it for household bills.