Superannuation default fund review concludes: Australian Super selected
Disturbing hearings during the Banking Royal Commission revealed AMP, who managed the Australia Post default superannuation fund (APSP), had misled the Australian Securities and Investment Commission on 20 occasions, interfered in the drafting of an independent expert report and charged customers fees for services they did not receive.
Following these revelations, your Union wrote to Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate urging her to review the default Superannuation fund arrangements for employees who were ineligible to join the APSS fund and had not nominated another fund.
A copy of that letter can be downloaded by clicking here.
Discussions between your Union and management took place shortly after which resulted in Post’s commitment to undertake a thorough review of those default superannuation arrangements. That review process concluded in the second half of last year and we welcomed a process to undertake a search for other options on the market to provide a better default fund arrangement for employees.
At this time Divisional Secretary Greg Rayner met with the CEO of AMP which resulted in them lowering their fees for members whilst this process was undertaken.
This process has now concluded and Australian Super has been selected as the new default superannuation fund provider for new employees who are ineligible to join the APSS and have not nominated another fund. Both Australian Super and AMP will contact you shortly with further information and will keep you up-to-date with progress of the transition.
However, whilst we welcome the selection of Australian Super as the new default fund, an industry super fund that has a reputation for delivering market-leading returns to members with competitive fees, members should be aware that under legislation you may nominate any superannuation fund of your choosing. To do this, contact payroll.
Your Union, including your Officials and local AURs, are not qualified to, and cannot, provide financial advice to members and we urge members who are enrolled in the APSP fund to seek financial advice to assess the performance of their retirement savings in the fund and take any action necessary to maximise those savings.
Some State Branches have relationships with worker oriented financial planners that offer free or discounted financial advice to CEPU/CWU members. Members should contact their State Branch directly for referral details. For those that do not, all industry super funds offer free general advice and further information can be found at: www.industrysuper.com
Yours faithfully, Greg Rayner, DIVISIONAL SECRETARY
