Vanguard planning to enhance Super offering

Vanguard Australia has revealed more information about its Super product and the uptake of the offer.

Vanguard Super was launched last November and the firm said it would offer “simplicity, transparency and a low-cost investment approach to deliver a highly sophisticated but easy to understand superannuation offer”.

The offer would be an accumulation product called Vanguard Super SaveSmart, which included a MySuper default fund called Lifecycle, plus a range of index-based diversified and single sector investment options.

Speaking to Super Review, Rachel White, head of financial adviser services, said the fund had initially been used by those who are already using the Vanguard Personal Investor service.

VIEW ALL

View all

“People have been welcoming of the offering and to have a choice from a brand they know. The initial wave has come from people who already use Vanguard Personal Investor and we want a broader level of interest from the Australian population. We have a chance to do that and advisers play a really critical role in that.

“What we’ve heard from advisers is they are really welcoming of the fact they now have real choice between existing industry funds and retail offers in the market already. And it’s from a brand they know, they invest with and we listen to them. I think it’s really exciting and the adviser response has been really interesting.”

She said the firm were keen to build out the offering and expand its features in the future, working in conjunction with its Personal Investor arm with an Adviser Portal for financial advisers. This would be a way for advisers to access super and investments for their clients in one place.

“We want to build out the super offer and expand it and evolve the Personal Investor service to really help give clients the best chance and opportunity to access Vanguard products. That’s really the focus for the foreseeable future.

“[The portal] will allow advisers to actually serve their clients effectively and efficiently. It will be simple and intuitive, so it’s really for advisers who are serving those clients with a more simplistic investment need.”

It would also launch a retirement product later this year aimed at those retirees in the decumulation phase who were drawing down income.

In the recent Quality of Advice Review, reviewer, Michelle Levy, said she believed super funds should be able to give advice to members and Vanguard said this appealed to the firm as it already had experience in advice from its investment business.

“I feel like Vanguard straddles both sides of the coins in that in that we've now got this super product, and we've been working with financial advisors for a long time,” she said.