We live in a world of outsourcing – not just at a corporate level, but in our personal lives as well. A modern, time-poor Australian can pay someone else to mow their lawn, wash their car, clean their house, and look after their children. It’s even possible to buy a dog and then pay someone... MORE
The shape of the superannuation industry in Australia has changed remarkably over the past twenty five years, since the introduction of the Super Guarantee Charge in 1992. Originally just three per cent of salary was mandated to be invested in superannuation. In 2014 this has risen to 9.25 per cent and is scheduled to continue... MORE
While segmentation of a customer base and accurate profiling of superannuation fund members has been a long held dream of marketers, the digital age has brought the dream alive. Technology now enables more accurate collection of data than ever before, covering wider ranges of customer activity. Segmentation based only on age and gender is well... MORE
The Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) sector is often referred to as a “cottage industry” because it is administered almost entirely by a heavily fragmented network of suburban accountants. But with projections suggesting that the SMSF sector is set to hit $2.2 trillion within 20 years, the question arises of whether or not the SMSF... MORE
With increasing emphasis being placed today on the importance of financial management across all sections of society, there is a distinct need for improved financial literacy in education. As a growing number of technology-based resources are steadily integrated into the classroom, is there an opportunity for investment platforms to examine how they could help improve... MORE
Does a technology focus on efficiency inevitably lead to a trade-off for innovation? Recent history would suggest that the answer is “yes”. It’s fair to say that the superannuation industry is lagging the wealth management and banking sectors, in terms of member engagement, access to account details and so on. The industry has undergone a... MORE
In the mature wrap and platform market in Australia a number of key players have amassed large scale and dominant market share after many years of technology development and investment, built up over years of industry development and change. Throughout all these years of evolution, there have been some constants. Advisors demand more ease of... MORE
Regulations that aim to boost oversight and transparency post crisis are adding to the pressure on fund administrators. How can they balance managing operational risk against achieving operational efficiency, whilst at the same time maintaining economies of scale? There has been a recent trend in the transfer agency space to increase the number of control... MORE
Last week I attended the annual ALFI (Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry) Global Distribution Conference in Luxembourg. It is one of the industry’s flagship events with plenty of networking opportunities and a high quality conference programme covering distribution, regulatory updates, new products and tax implications. This year the Association celebrates 25 years of existence... MORE
The story of Self Managed Super Funds (SMSFs) and their seemingly ever increasing popularity with Australians is hardly a new one. Indeed, typing the words “smsf growth” into Google currently yields more than 300,000 results. However, the language being used to describe SMSF growth recently seems to have taken on a rather dramatic tone. Various... MORE