Q WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF RETAIL SUPER FUNDS AFTER WHAT WAS UNCOVERED BY THE ROYAL COMMISSION?

Retail funds copped a shellacking. Coming so soon after the trouncing that some retail MySuper funds copped in the Productivity Commission’s May 2018 report it was a one-two punch like no other.

So where to now for retail super? It says much that several funds we’ve been visiting lately have told us they are determined to get back to running their super funds for their members, not as a source of assets for their funds management businesses.

It’s why so many of them are divesting their investment management divisions – they want to invest with the best money managers and not be bound by the ones in their corporate groups.

But if choice is what you’re after, retail super funds are like the Netflix of superannuation, with among the best equity investment options for personal members. Sure, they’ll have to update their business models, realising they compete with the modern market not just other legacy retail funds like them. Not all will survive the transition but those that do will thrive.

Alex Dunnin,

executive director, research and compliance, Rainmaker Group