First State Super and VicSuper have completed their merger to create a fund managing over $120 billion for 1.1 million members.
In an announcement First State Super chief executive, Deanne Stewart, said the merged fund would have scale to drive down its administration and investments costs and that the savings would be passed onto members.
Also commenting, VicSuper’s former chief executive, Michael Dundon said: “Our merger with First State Super is already delivering great outcomes for VicSuper members with a 20% reduction in fees for accumulation members within the first year.
“While VicSuper has been a high-performing fund, our board knew that accessing scale through a merger would be key to driving value for our members into the future.”
Dundon would now join First State Super as a member of the executive team where he would be responsible for overseeing the integration of VicSuper and support other future merger opportunities.
The fund’s trustee board’s independent chair, Neil Cochrane, said the board had welcomed four VicSuper directors. These were Gabrielle Bell, Partricia Faulkner, Antoinette Masiero, and Travis Bates.
Sue Carter and Rod Harty had stepped down from the First State Super Board though Harty remained a member of the member services committee.
The announcement noted that while fund operations, investments and employees were not part of one merged entity, the VicSuper brand would remain in market.
Michael Lovett, who left the investment firm just three months after launching its Vanguard Super offering, has taken up a chief executive role at an Australian asset manager.
The Central Bank of Ireland has granted the approval of Equity Trustees’ exit from its Irish operations, with the transaction expected to be complete on 30 April.
Super returns continued to climb in March, raising hopes of delivering double-digit returns by June depending on the performance of this next quarter.
The dedicated super fund for emergency services and Victorian government employees is under fire for unpaid entitlements to transport employees, which could exceed $40 million.
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