State Super goes live with Frontier investment outsource

NSW’s State Super gone live with its partnership with Frontier Advisers which saw 15 of the fund’s investment and operations team move to Frontier.

The partnership originally announced in October was confirmed today by State Super chief executive, John Livanas who said that the fund’s chief investment officer, Charles Wu, would lead the team across to Frontier and continue to support State Super and introduce a new Independent Chief Investment Officer (ICIO) model to Frontier’s capabilities.

He said that in return, State Super would break new ground by becoming a 23.66% shareholder in Frontier alongside other industry funds, AustralianSuper, Hesta, Cbus and First Super.

“We are extremely proud to become a significant shareholder in Frontier Advisors alongside some of the giants of superannuation in Australia and we look forward to seeing Frontier thrive as it grows into new areas” Livanas said

State Super has worked with Frontier for 20 years and the two have been in talks about the partnership for some time. Livanas explained this solution will address the natural challenges for the State Super investment team as aging members exit and funds under management decline.

The collaboration between State Super and Frontier will provide members with the security of retaining the technical skills of a team adept at managing their funds.

“It’s gratifying to see the new model become a reality,” said Livanas. “We have now got the team for today and tomorrow, and there is a growth vector for that team at Frontier, which gives them a great opportunity”.

The capability the former State Super team brings into Frontier, will instantly enable the firm to expand its services as they introduce their ICIO model, will not only support the investments of State Super members but will offer other potential clients a unique capability.

Frontier Advisors CEO Andrew Polson said “we’re tremendously excited to welcome Charles and his team into Frontier”.

“Our unconflicted advice model is well known in the market and that won’t change. But Frontier can now provide investors with institutional grade end-to-end investment services that let them retain control over their own investment policy, strategy and portfolio construction without needing to compromise on the ability to choose their own investment products in the process.”