Members clouded by scale: Combined Fund

Scale is a member perception issue and not an issue of size said Combined Fund chief executive Michael Houlihan.

Houlihan said the fund was not worried about scale, despite its small member base, but popular discourse meant it was top of mind for some members.

"Size is an issue, but we take it as a perception issue … it creates an unnecessary question and distraction for our members because they have to ask the question … will they survive?" he said.

Houlihan said even the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) said the issue of scale was not about size, but about whether or not a super fund was ready for the introduction of MySuper.

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APRA deputy chairman Ross Jones confirmed this at an Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia luncheon.

The fund's internal processes were robust enough to manage the prudential standards, he said, but the pressure arising from the issue of scale was one of member perception.

"It's an unnecessary conversation we have to have for those members that do read X, Y, Z paper and think the Combined Fund's too small for them," he said.

Despite the musings of some industry experts, the fund was still able to negotiate reduced investment costs due to asset consultant, Mercer, who had been appointed 18 months ago, Houlihan said. 

But the fund's competitive advantage was its value proposition - the personalised service they offered to its member base and employers, he said. Its member base of 11,000 was viewed as an advantage.

"We need to be able to give a high degree of personalised service to our membership base. It's a small membership base and we know them all very well, from the employer level right down to the member level," he said.

Houlihan said he spends most of his time visiting employers - 120 of which are aligned with the fund, but he was not worried about scale and the fund had no intention of merging. 

"The pigeonhole that everyone says you're not going to survive, you're not going to make it through MySuper, et cetera - we think that's absolute rubbish," he said.