TelstraSuper and Equip Super announce intent to merge
The boards of TelstraSuper and Equip Super have announced they have entered into a merger agreement that would create a combined profit-to-member fund with around $60 billion in funds under management.
The agreement confirms both parties’ intention to explore a merger and sets out the framework that will be used to assess, consider and prepare for the implementation of a merger. The two funds will now undertake further due diligence including confirming the initial view that the merger is in the best financial interests of members of each fund.
The merger is expected to achieve significant scale benefits, delivering improved retirement outcomes for more than 225,000 members, while maintaining the personalised service already provided by the two funds.
Pending outcomes of due diligence, it is expected that the merger would be executed via a Successor Fund Transfer in late 2025.
Super funds finish August in positive territory despite early jitters
Super funds delivered positive returns in August despite the jitters at the start of the month, according to Chant West’s latest data.
Despite some sharp share market falls in early August, the median growth fund (61 to 80% in growth assets) finished the month in positive territory with a return of 0.3%, bringing the return over the first two months of FY25 to 2.3%.
Chant West Senior Investment Research Manager, Mano Mohankumar, says that the catalysts for the market volatility in early August were flow-on effects from the Bank of Japan raising interest rates and increased fears of a recession in the US resulting from weaker job data.
“Despite sharp share market falls in early August, both Australian shares and international shares hedged finished the month in positive territory. The volatility experienced in August is another reminder to super fund members of the importance of maintaining a long-term focus and not getting distracted by short-term noise.”
Gender norms continue to hamper progress on financial equality
despite gains in pay, participation & Paris
According to the latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX), Australia needs to do more to challenge outdated gender norms, which continue to contribute to a “two steps forward, one step back” rate of progress on gender financial equality.
The FWX, which tracks timeframes to economic equality every quarter, slipped to 77.5 points in the June quarter of 2024, down by 0.2 points from a revised 77.7 points in March. Despite the decline, the Index has improved over the past 12 months, gaining 2.36 points from 74.8 points in June 2023.
Financy founder and CEO Bianca Hartge-Hazelman noted that despite the gains women are making in the labour market participation and on the sporting field as evidenced by the Paris Olympics, persistent gender norms are still holding back female progress relative to men.
The headline FWX score for the June quarter was buoyed by a record-breaking improvement in the national gender pay gap, which fell to 11.5% in May as reported in August. This improvement, reflecting increased wages for early childhood educators and aged care workers, helped lift the FWX Gender Pay Gap sub-index to 88.5 points, up from 88 points in March.
