CEO Update, Summer 2021

By Kate Farrar, Chief Executive Officer, LGIAsuper

1 December 2021

It was wonderful to see so many members and guests attending our Annual Members Meeting in November, both in Brisbane and online. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to participate.

I always appreciate spending time with our members, sharing ideas and listening to feedback. Having a good relationship with our members is so important to me and my team.

This was our first Annual Members Meeting as a newly merged fund. As the issuer of both Energy Super and LGIAsuper products, it was a milestone moment for all our teams who have worked so hard to come together as one fund.

The Annual Members Meeting was a chance for us to give an update on our performance, future direction and the benefits that members can expect from the merger.

If you didn’t get a chance to attend the meeting, you can watch our video featuring all the presentations from our leadership team, and our answers to members’ questions.

Full details of the fund’s performance are available in our Annual Report 2020/21.

Benefitting from increased size

As a member of our newly merged fund, you are now part of a Queensland-based fund managing around $24 billion in retirement savings for approximately 123,000 members.

We are already using our increased size and scale to deliver better services and lower costs for our members. Our recent removal of the weekly administration fee is a great example of how our members will start to benefit from our cost savings. We are now one of the few super funds that do not charge a weekly or monthly flat-rate admin fee as well as a percentage-based admin fee.

The fund is in a good position for the future. Our increased fund size now gives us access to a wider range of investment opportunities, with good prospects for strong and sustainable returns. I look forward to giving you an update on some of our latest investments over the coming months.

On top of that, we’ve brought together some very skilled and talented people from both funds to provide members with exceptional support, education and advice. We have a great team in place to deliver the personal service our members can expect from us.

Growing again

The year ahead will be another big step, with our planned acquisition of Suncorp’s superannuation business, Suncorp Portfolio Services Limited, which we expect to complete in April 2022.

When the acquisition is complete, we will have a combined fund size of $30 billion and a membership of over 250,000. For us, this is the ideal size for long-term sustainable growth. Large enough to make worthwhile investments and agile enough to respond quickly to changes in financial markets.

Remaining a medium-sized fund with a boutique offering and strong member-focus are essential parts of our fund’s philosophy.

New brand

We are progressing well with a new brand for the fund. While LGIAsuper and Energy Super are currently operating under their existing brands, we are excited to be working on the rebranding of our combined fund. I look forward to launching our fund’s new brand in 2022.

Over the coming months, we will be rolling out some new online tools and services to make it quicker, easier and more convenient to stay on top of your super. This will include our new mobile app, which will be available to members soon… watch this space.

At the same time, we are strengthening all our teams who provide support, guidance and advice to our members. We remain committed to delivering a personal service to all our members.

Legislation changes

This was a busy year for legislation changes in superannuation, which aim to deliver better member outcomes. I am proud of how our team has adapted to the regulatory changes and supported our members.

It is now easier for everyone to assess and compare the performance of their super funds. LGIAsuper welcomes any changes that benefit our members.

Over the coming months we expect to see new legislation that could benefit many of our members, such as first home buyers, retirees wanting to downsize, retirees wanting to keep growing their super, and low-income workers.

As always, we will be keeping our members informed about any legislation changes to superannuation through our articles, notices and online education resources.

Happy holidays

As we approach the end of 2021, I would like to thank all our members for your support and membership of the fund.

On behalf of everyone at LGIAsuper, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday season. Our best wishes to you and your family for 2022.