The federal government has announced the establishment of a cutting‑edge National Anti‑Scams Centre (NASC) as part of an $86.5 million package.  The NASC will sit within the ACCC and be operational from 1 July 2023. In a world‑leading partnership between government agencies, banks, telcos, and digital platforms, the NASC’s purpose is to:  Use cutting‑edge technology to share intelligence across government and with authorised industry participants to interrupt scams in real-time;  Combine the expertise of the government and the private sector to disrupt scams; and Raise consumer ..read more

Life insurer TAL has launched the TAL Insurance Academy, a learning and development platform that provides its superannuation fund partners with access to on-demand education and training.  The initiative was developed in collaboration with TAL’s super fund partners with the aim of using expert training and development to deliver positive member experiences.  The platform is enabled by a comprehensive learning management system that is fully integrated with TAL’s superannuation fund partner portal GroupHQ.  Experts deliver the course content, which includes a comprehensive ..read more

Financial services company Foresters Financial has appointed Michael McQueen as chief investment officer.  McQueen has 15 years of experience in financial services. He most recently served as CIO at Media Super, where he was deeply involved in successfully delivering the merger with Cbus and overseeing the transfer of members’ retirement savings.   Before this, he was head of investment strategy at lucrf super (now part of AustralianSuper). He was also acting CIO at Kinetic Super during its merger with Sunsuper (now known as Australian Retirement Trust).  Additionally, McQu ..read more

Whether an SOA will be required to be 100-plus pages, 10 pages or even non-existent, AFCA remains focused on how the advice was given. Quality of Advice Review lead Michelle Levy recommended scrapping SOAs, but during the Professional Planner QAR Roadshow, Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones only showed support for shortened versions of the advice document rather than complete obliteration. AFCA lead ombudsman for advice Shail Singh said SOAs are important, but the 120-page versions can make it hard to understand what the advice was. “The SOA is important, but the SOA done properly i ..read more

Less serious misconduct issues may still see advisers face the Financial Services and Credit Panel, according to the regulator. ASIC senior leader for financial advisers Leah Sciacca reminded advisers at the FAAA Roadshow in Sydney on Monday the regime is in operation. “The FSCP is in operation and has expanded powers to enable it to address a broader range of circumstances, including less serious misconduct by financial advisers,” Sciacca said. The regulator released its reprimand parameters last year, which indicated less serious cases wouldn’t require a hearing. Sciacca said when panel matt ..read more

Hostplus has passed $100 billion in funds under management, which has been driven by mergers and strong member growth in its personal division. The achievement is even more remarkable under the current low organic growth market conditions. As referenced in KPMG’s ‘Super Insights 2023’ report, Hostplus’ net inflows in 2022 grew by 7 per cent in an environment where the overall sector lost 0.5 per cent in FUM ..read more

Asset management company Mirova, international asset manager Robeco, and a group of 11 financial players have launched a call for expressions of interest to develop a global database of avoided emissions factors and associated company-level avoided emissions.   Specifically, they want to enable:  The creation of a globally accessible common database of avoidance factors; and  The estimation of emissions avoided by companies over a broad investment universe of listed companies first, resulting from the application of the avoidance factor database on the activity data of the comp ..read more

Cbus Super has merged with EISS Super on Monday, following extensive due diligence and planning, welcoming 17,000 new members.  It is the second merger Cbus has completed in the past 13 months, following a merger with Media Super in April 2022.  The combined fund now manages over $80 billion in assets for 900,000 members, including over 50,000 members in the electrical sector.  ..read more

AZ NGA has entered into a strategic partnership with High Net Worth advisory firm Rose Partners. In a media release on Tuesday morning, the advice firm said the partnership will allow it to accelerate plans of expansion and create opportunities for junior partners to buy shares. Established in 1976, a significant number of the group’s clients include HNW clients and healthcare professionals such as doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and allied health specialists. Rose Partners provides a range of advisory services to businesses. Through the group’s Rose Health division, they assist healthcare pro ..read more

BlackRock Australia has appointed Jonathan Jenkins as head of client business in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia.  He will lead the delivery of BlackRock’s platform and global capabilities to wealth and institutional clients in these states.  Jenkins has over 25 years of experience and most recently spent 15 years at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong and Singapore as head of equity distribution and prime sales in the Asia Pacific. Before this, he worked at JP Morgan for 11 years in a range of equity sales roles.  ..read more