HESTA surpasses $100b in FUM

Australian superannuation fund, HESTA, has hit a new milestone of $100 billion in funds under management (FUM), in the wake of several recent investment and insurance fee decreases.

The fund said the milestone represents its strong position in delivering improved retirement outcomes for members, given the top performance of its range of ‘ready-made’ super investment options (with its default MySuper Balanced Growth product returning 8.16 per cent per annum on average over the last decade) and its efforts to lower both investment and insurance fees to better provide for members.

“Far more than a milestone, we believe this growth enables us to deliver greater value for our more than 1 million members,” HESTA chief executive, Debby Blakey, said.

“This is money that represents greater security, more choice, and a more dignified retirement. It also provides even more opportunities to deliver super with impact.

“It helps us access a larger and more diverse range of high-quality investments, and provides economies of scale that can help keep costs down over time, supporting long-term returns that help members to retire their way.”

The fund has managed to tick off a variety of achievements in the past 38 years since its establishment in 1987, including:

• Moving the management of approximately 18 per cent of its investment portfolio in-house;
• Founding the 40:40 vision initiative focused on gender-balanced executive teams by 2030;
• Successfully lobbying for super to be paid on Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave; and
• Helping more than 250,000 extra members to expect to experience a more ‘comfortable’ retirement (compared to ‘modest’) since 2016.

“Our next journey of growth has already begun with the launch of our new three-year strategy, which aims to provide more personalised experiences and opportunities that deliver greater value to members over the long-term. It also includes work to continue to refine our investment model at a time when we now have almost 20% of our portfolio managed internally,” Blakey said.

“It’s an incredible privilege to serve those working in health and community services and to invest in and for people who deliver key services for all Australians.

“Our members are mainly women working part-time or casually in often lower-paid sectors such as aged care or early childhood education. Many miss out on the full benefits of super because they take unpaid time out of the workforce to care for others.

“Core to our purpose is our super with impactTM approach, and the growth we’re seeing across the Fund shows this resonates with more and more Australians.”