Fund Product, Company and Regulatory Updates as at 10 December 2019
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Product Updates
MFS IM launches global fixed income trust
The MFS Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Trust has been announced, launched to generate returns from diverse alpha investments under a variety of market conditions in developed countries. Owen Murfin is to oversee the trust as institutional portfolio manager.
Clime IM launches income fund with Sequoia
The Clime Income Enhancer Series 1 fund is to be launched by Clime Investment Management and Sequoia, aiming to provide a yearly income of eight per cent. There are just four shares in the fund: Macquarie, Rio Tinto, Treasury Wines and BHP.
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Company Updates
Tasplan merger confirmed
Tasplan Super and MTAA Super have committed to merge in October 2020, with Tasplan’s chief executive to stay on until the merger date, then exit the fund. MTAA Super chief Leeanne Turner will take over as the chief executive of the merged entity.
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Regulatory Updates
ASIC: super funds dishing out non-compliant personal advice
A review of financial advice provided by superannuation funds has found nearly half not compliant with the best interests duty. Twenty-one super funds were part of the review shows many files reviewed were not compliant, with 36 per cent of the advice in the files not putting the member at risk - but 15 per cent showed the member was at risk. Of those, 11 per cent were at risk of financial detriment, 2 per cent were at risk of non-financial detriment, and three per cent were at risk of both.
Over 200 advice files were reviewed over 28 Australian financial services (AFS) licensees (industry, retail and corporate funds), with intra-fund advice, scaled advice and comprehensive advice. The review did not include general advice.
The results were not broken down by fund type, though the report does comment that the quality of advice was similar across both retail and industry funds. Advice provided internally by employed staff was the most compliant, with third-party providers and related party employers had much lower rates of compliance. The superannuation fund is not always the supplier of the advice.
