Fund Company Update

Superhero appoints director

James Shipton, former chair of ASIC, has joined the board of Superhero as a non-executive director. Superhero is a share trading and super platform with nearly 200,000 investors on its platform. Shipton has extensive experience in financial services.

Westpac merging BT super with Mercer Super

Westpac is merging BT personal and corporate super with Mercer Super, with the merger not including superannuation held on the BT Panorama and Asgard platforms. BT employees who support these funds will be offered employment at Mercer.

Westpac has also agreed to sell the Advance management asset business (Advance) to Mercer Australia, with the net effect of the transaction and sale costs and the Advance sale over the remainder of FY22 and FY23 expected to be an after-tax gain of $225 million. The merger and sale are expected in 2023.

AMP transfers assets, creates AMP Investments

AMP has transferred its multi-asset group capability into its wealth business, creating AMP Investments. The new business includes the wealth manager’s flagship SignatureSuper, MySuper and choice superannuation products, as well as those offered on the North wrap investment platform. AMP Investments will be headed by chief investment officer, Anna Shelley, and will have $84.7 billion in assets under management.

PwC and AI software provider create alliance

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia has announced a strategic alliance with Complexica, a leading provider of Artificial Intelligence software, in the space of Revenue Growth Management (RGM) and Trade Promotion Optimisation (TPO).

Under the alliance, PwC and Complexica will work together to help organisations optimise their go-to-market strategies and trade promotion activities. In-market activities are expected to commence in the coming months. PwC and Complexica have already worked together on a number of successful projects, including with leading Australian brands Arnott’s, Asahi, Pernod Ricard, and DuluxGroup.

Iress and Hostplus implement integration for onboarding

Hostplus and Iress have teamed up to join Iress’s Xplan financial planning platform and Hostplus’s self-managed invest onboarding solution. The tool allows advisers to initiate, complete and lodge investor client applications directly from Xplan.