Super fund fight looms

THE state’s super funds are cutting fees as they prepare to compete for the $70 billion held in Queensland public servant super accounts.

From July 1, state public servants no longer have to choose QSuper as their default fund.

QSuper chief executive Michael Pennisi said the fund would cut administration fees by 10 per cent from October, bringing it to 0.18 per cent of funds held.

Mr Pennisi said the fund was prepared for greater competition and would have cut administration fees regardless of the coming changes. The proposed “choice of fund” legislation brings Queensland into line with other states and territories.

“The Queensland government has made a decision to give a choice to its employees and we support that,” said Mr Pennisi.

Melbourne-based health and education industry fund Hesta has flagged it would look at attracting Queensland public servants into its $30 billion fund.

Another beneficiary could be Brisbane-based Sunsuper, one of Australia’s biggest superannuation funds with more than one million members.

Sunsuper has reduced its pension fees for members with an income account from $4 per week to $3 per week, effective from 30 September 2017.

Sunsuper executive general manager customer and technology Teifi Whatley said Sunsuper’s fees remain among the lowest in the industry, with administration fees for Supersavings accounts only 0.1 per cent per annum. and $1.50 per week.

Mr Pennisi said QSuper was already in a competitive market, with public servants able to transfer most of their super to another fund, even though only a small number opt to do that. QSuper has 560,000 members with a pension pot of $70 billion.

“If you become a public servant at the moment, QSuper is your fund but you can transfer most of your money to another fund if you choose,” Mr Pennisi said.

“We have been operating in a competitive environment for years.”

Mr Pennisi said he was confident QSuper would pick up new members as people from outside the public sector would be free to join the fund. He said a new web portal had been created to attract new members and a marketing campaign would be ramped up in the coming few months.

“We actually have 6000 people registered on our website who want to join QSuper as soon as they are able,” he said.

“We are not changing what we are doing.”