Investments
As the Magnificent Seven fade, CFS looks further afield for returns
Colonial First State chief investment officer Jonathan Armitage says a shift away from reliance on US mega-cap tech stocks is reshaping portfolio resilience, with emerging markets, private debt and catastrophe bonds helping to drive returns across the portfolio.
Policy and Regulation
AustraliaSuper backs new benchmark for ‘emerging assets’ in YFYS
The nation’s two largest super funds are at odds over potential changes to the performance test, with AustralianSuper saying it supports further developments to the CPI + X benchmark that could be used to evaluate “emerging assets” after Australian Retirement Trust rejected the model due to its potential to increase systemic risk.
Industry & regulation
Super funds must prepare for ‘tomorrow’s problems’, says outgoing APRA deputy
In an exclusive exit interview with Investment Magazine, APRA deputy chair Margaret Cole has warned that super funds need to prepare for a radically different threat environment and that controversial changes to director tenure limits are aimed at future-proofing a “precious system” against mounting cyber and AI risks.
Leadership & profiles
ESSSuper revives private equity program
ESSSuper, the Victorian state fund with $12 billion in accumulation assets, has rebooted the private equity program it wound up over a decade ago in a bid to boost returns, with chief investment officer Daniel Selioutine telling Investment Magazine that exit pressures in the asset class mean it’s a good time to buy.
21 July, 2026
Insurance in Super Summit
19 August, 2026
Retirement Leaders Summit
13 – 15 October, 2026
Fiduciary Investors Symposium
Culture
‘Every opportunity has to earn its place’: How the Future Fund built a TPA culture that scales
The total portfolio approach has allowed Australia’s sovereign wealth fund to capture the themes that will power markets and economies for decades to come, said director of thought leadership Craig Thorburn – but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard to scale.
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.
Retirement
Engagement is shifting from communication to confidence
The next phase of member engagement will not be won on returns or communications volume. CoreData research shows members want confidence and practical guidance, and the funds that deliver it at key life moments stand to gain the most. And even though fewer members switched funds in 2025, one in four say they still might. The retention battle has not been won, it has simply become less visible.
Governance
HESTA seeks answers over ‘deeply concerning’ Richard White allegations
HESTA wants answers from WiseTech on how it will manage the role of executive chair Richard White after reports emerged that the Australian Federal Police are investigating him over human trafficking and visa fraud allegations.
Governance
Shield, First Guardian reforms must not become a covert operation to restrict competition
There is broad consensus in industry and Canberra that the collapses of the Shield and First Guardian master funds – and failures that led to them – demand a regulatory response. But getting that response wrong could create an uneven playing field in the industry and some counterproductive consumer outcomes.
Industry & regulation
ART says ‘inferior’ proposed YFYS changes increase systemic risk
The $370 billion Australian Retirement Trust says that the proposed introduction of a CPI+X benchmark for “emerging asset classes” or the move to a simple reference portfolio in the Your Future Your Super performance test would heighten system-wide risk without improving investment outcomes.
Investments
Super funds grapple with hidden AI cross-exposures as boom runs on
As super funds work to understand their total portfolio exposure to the artificial intelligence thematic, a complex picture of hidden betas and “attachment points” is gradually emerging. They also need to figure out how to play the same thematic in the “tricky” China market.
Investments
How asset owners are looking through private equity pain
The dispersion between private equity and listed market returns is near the widest in history. For some asset owners, that’s a reason to hold on through the pain – even as the SaaSpocalypse looms in the background.
