Leadership & profiles
‘Good time to leave’: Arndt says Future Fund ready for ‘fresh leader’
Future Fund chief executive Raphael Arndt said the time has come for “a fresh leader” to steer the $356 billion sovereign investor as he prepares to close out an almost two-decade tenure at the fund and make a pivot to the private sector.
2026 Retirement Leaders Summit
How the protection of a prudential regulator convinced Mulino to revive DBFO
The consumer protections provided by a prudential regulator ultimately convinced Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino that he could revive proposals contained in the long-delayed Delivering Better Financial Outcomes Reforms. At the Conexus Retirement Leaders Summit, Mulino said his thinking had been reshaped by the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian managed investment schemes.
CIO Series
LGT CIO keeps risk in check amid search for positive investment signals
LGT Wealth Management is deploying just 20 per cent of its risk budget as chief investment officer Scott Haslem waits for greater clarity on geopolitics, inflation and earnings. In the latest episode of the Investment Magazine CIO series, he argued investors need to understand the regime they are operating in to separate market noise from long-term opportunity.
Industry & regulation
AI-powered cyber risks top APRA’s supervision priorities
Ensuring regulated entities are strengthening their resilience to AI-enabled cyber threats is APRA’s top supervision priority for 2026-27, according to the corporate plan it released on Wednesday, with APRA executives warning that AI is now materially changing the global cyber threat landscape.
13 – 15 October, 2026
Fiduciary Investors Symposium
3 – 4 February, 2027
Chair Forum
18 – 20 May, 2027
Fiduciary Investors Symposium
Technology
The real warning in the Future Fund’s new AI prediction
The Future Fund’s new position paper is useful for anybody trying to imagine the possible futures of our increasingly wild present, but it is the AI threats that are already emerging that investors should spend their limited attention budget on.
Leadership & profiles
GESB CEO calls time: ‘Past regime of default super’ no longer sustainable
GESB chief executive Ben Palmer is set to leave the Western Australian government super fund, ending a 13-year tenure after steering the fund through the most significant change in its history. In a rare interview, Palmer examines the past, present and future of super and explains why GESB is treating platforms, not profit-to-member funds, as its benchmark.
Profiles
Why HESTA’s ‘joined-up thinking’ is one of its CIO’s favourite things
Sonya Sawtell-Rickson joined HESTA as the health industry workers’ super fund was taking steps towards investment internalisation and a total portfolio approach. She says the moves have been vindicated not only by member returns but in the “joined-up” conversations the now-$96 billion fund has with the companies it invests in.
Financial Advice
New pathways to retirement as govt green-lights new class of adviser for super funds
Super funds will find it easier to provide guidance and advice to members under regulatory reforms announced by the Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino. Trustees who breach their obligations will also be required to remediate members for losses, and the government will crack down on predatory lead generation.
Governance
CGT, negative gearing reforms reflect Australian values
Labor has built a generational political brand, and one that endures in the face of some major challenges here and abroad, Conexus Financial founder and managing director Colin Tate told the 50th ALP National Conference in Adelaide. But it must push back against extreme demands on AI and technology if it is to boost productivity and seize a huge economic growth opportunity.
Industry & regulation
Super complaints expected to reach 8000 in 2026: AFCA
Superannuation complaints to AFCA are on track to exceed 8000 this year, a second consecutive year of around 30 per cent increases. Heather Gray, who is retiring in May after six years as lead ombudsman for superannuation, told the authority’s Member Forum that the answer to reducing complaints lies in empowering funds’ IDR teams and communicating with complainants and AFCA early. The forum heard that handling unreasonable people is a critical skill.
Industry & regulation
Gap between retirement leaders and laggards has grown: ASIC
A year after regulators put super funds on notice about the unacceptable gap between the best and the worst of responses to the Retirement Income Covenant, the situation has become even worse. The Retirement Leaders Summit in Canberra heard that the leading funds treat retirement as a core business, while the laggards still see it as a compliance exercise.
ESG and sustainability
ASFI statement on Investment Magazine opinion
This is a response to the opinion piece on ASFI’s sustainable finance taxonomy in Investment Magazine. The Australian Taxonomy helps users check whether an activity that plays a stable or growing role in Australia’s transition makes a positive contribution to the goals of the Paris Agreement. It provides a set of technical criteria for users
Featured Homepage Posts
Aware Super hunts hidden AI exposures as concentration concern grows
The $245 billion Aware Super says that around 15 per cent of assets in its high-growth option are exposed to the AI thematic, but says that finding the portfolio’s true concentration will require looking beyond simple dollar aggregation. Head of investment strategy Michael Winchester unpacks the approach and why the fund has to be “really discerning” with where it allocates to in the future.
