Andrew Proebstl

The online experience of legalsuper members has been further improved with the recent launch of a new cloud-based Member Online portal.

Built in partnership with Link Group – the retirement and superannuation solutions leader – the market-leading platform uses real-time data so legalsuper can engage with members in a more meaningful way, with the benefit of personalised one-to-one experiences.

The platform delivers on legalsuper’s commitment to provide busy legal professionals with the best possible online experience including easy to navigate information, tailored offerings, communications and services – all provided via an intuitive and simple content management system which also makes it easy for the fund to self-manage down the track.

Andrew Proebstl, Chief Executive, legalsuper said “This upgrade in our online platform is a game changer. New features include more personalised experiences and increased security measures to protect member data, using Link Group’s enhanced security and data technology to ensure ‘privacy by design’ and multi-factor authentication, while retaining features our members know and regularly use.”

The superior capabilities and modern design of the new platform make it even easier to use and convenient for legalsuper members to actively manage their super or pension online. With further platform innovations in the pipeline, we expect continued uplift going forward.

Dee McGrath, CEO, Retirement & Superannuation Solutions, Link Group, said “We are proud of our strong, long standing partnership with legalsuper and very excited to bring our latest capabilities to their members, and to launch this market-leading platform together. With super engagement on the rise, we are committed to partnering with legalsuper to ensure the new member online platform continues to stand out from the rest through data-driven, personalised solutions for members.”

Administering 9.5 million Australian superannuation accounts, Link Group actively seeks new innovations to continue strengthening its leading, global retirement solutions. Link Group’s ongoing investment in new technologies means we continue to work closely with clients to build flexible solutions at-scale, which are robustly tested to support personalised needs and changing member expectations.

The new Member Online platform is available to all Link Group superannuation clients.

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Dee McGrath

Link Group, the leading provider of record keeping technology and information solutions,  has secured a five-year extension to its existing contract with building, construction and civil industries superannuation provider BUSSQ.

The competitive tender saw the incumbent retain the contract by demonstrating a continued commitment to market leading technology that improves BUSSQ members’ experiences through ease of operability and multi-channel communications while still protecting the integrity of member data.

BUSSQ was established in 1985 to secure the financial future of workers in the building, construction and civil industries. Today, the fund manages $5.6 billion in assets on behalf of more than 60,000 members.

BUSSQ Chief Executive Officer Damian Wills said the decision to reappoint Link Group would deliver excellent outcomes for fund members.

“We ran an extremely competitive and comprehensive tender which reconfirmed that Link Group was the best partner for our organisation and our members. The quality of Link Group’s technology and enthusiasm of the Link Group team to continually evolve and improve the interface for our members has made us extremely confident in our extension,” he said.

“As Australians become increasingly invested in their super, we are excited for what the next five years of our partnership brings to our members.”

Link Group Retirement & Superannuation Solutions CEO Dee McGrath said the renewal was a significant milestone in the longstanding relationship between the two companies.

“We are delighted to have been reappointed by BUSSQ as its fund administrator. BUSSQ’s commitment to ‘making the difficult easy’ is a direct alignment to our values and services,” she said.

“BUSSQ has a fantastic performance record, and the ability to showcase fund performance alongside projected savings amounts will be a continued comfort to all of its members. We look forward to working with BUSSQ to continually innovate on the member experience.”

“The length of reappointment is also testament to the continued commitment of our retirement and superannuation solutions team, who continually strive to improve our technological and service offering to the benefit of all of our clients.”

BUSSQ Balanced Growth Super option and Balanced Growth Income account option for the financial year to 24 March 2021 have returned 10.1% and 9.45% respectively. BUSSQ has maintained an average return of 9.59% over the last 35 years.

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Andrew Proebstl

legalsuper has extended its partnership with Link Group by introducing a new digital intra-fund advice service to members through Link Group’s Super Blueprint.

Developed in response to a rise in members seeking advice online, Link Group’s Super Blueprint condenses complex financial concepts into comprehensible and accessible advice for superannuation fund members. Integrating into Link Group’s registry system, Super Blueprint prepopulates the members legalsuper information making it easier for them generate their own advice.

With over 10 years of experience and continual learning, Super Blueprint takes a personalised approach to delivering advice specific to member interest topics such as investment choice, insurance, projected retirement needs and contributions.

Commenting on the expanded offering, Andrew Proebstl, Chief Executive, legalsuper, said: “legalsuper continues to focus on providing members with access to information and advice to help them make the most out of their super and retirement.  Extending our partnership with Link Group into digital advice is an exciting step for the fund. Through the use of APIs from Link Group’s market leading technology, we believe Super Blueprint will provide our members with even more benefits.”

Super Blueprint makes superannuation advice accessible and affordable to all members and furthers Link Group’s commitment to transforming member experience. The bespoke algorithm has undergone rigorous, independent testing by a global actuary to provide personal intra-fund advice to superannuation fund clients and their members.

Duncan McPherson, Chief Executive Officer, Link Advice, Link Group, said legalsuper’s expanded advice offering through Super Blueprint would encourage members to take a bigger interest in their balances and accumulation:

“Digital innovation is shaping the future of the super industry. The analytics and advice provided through Super Blueprint will give members a clear balance and benchmark for how their super is performing, this encourages more informed decisions on plans and a more positive attitude towards contribution.

“Uncertain market conditions have people taking a closer look at their nest eggs, and choosing funds that can provide easily accessible advice on the accumulation and protection of superannuation amounts.

Super Blueprint allows members to understand more about how to get the most of their super and to ensure they take the necessary steps to achieve their goals in retirement.” said McPherson.

Super Blueprint has already been integrated and is available to existing legalsuper members through their member hub.

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Dee McGrath

A new partnership between Link Group and fintech Retirement Essentials will broaden Link Group’s advisory offering for superannuation clients, by supporting their customers to be retirement ready.

The partnership makes personal financial advice affordable and accessible to all members and furthers Link Group’s goal to help Australians retire ready and live well in retirement. The service is aimed at getting customers ready for retirement by incorporating affordable financial advice on Government Age Pension eligibility with assistance and lodgement of the customer’s age pension application via SuperEd’s Retirement Essentials service.

Not only will retiring members be able to access affordable financial advice, eligible members will also have their application submitted for the age pension via SuperEd’s Retirement Essentials service. Members will be guided along the entire path ending up with their retirement income in place.

Commenting on the transition, Dee McGrath, Chief Executive Officer, Retirement and Superannuation Solutions, said: “At Link Group we continue to invest in market leading technology that connects members to their funds while augmenting the information they receive on performance with tools to assist in achieving their super savings goals. One of the most important steps is for members to understand how to transition to retirement with the best outcomes financially.

“Our partnership with Retirement Essentials provides an important piece of the puzzle for an all encompassing retirement solution offering. Researching and preparing for retirement can be a daunting process. Our clients’ members can now be confident that they have both the systems and advice they need to manage the transition.”

Retirement Essentials is a member-based financial technology service for Australian seniors. It combines human-centred technology with personal support to assess members’ working capital and present all retirement options and supplementary income services available to them. Talking to the combined product offering, Hugh Morrow, Managing Director of SuperEd, parent company to Retirement Essentials, said: “We’re excited to expand our offering through Link Group. Our overarching goal is to make retirement easy for all Australians. We are excited to combine our capabilities with Link Group’s technology and existing advisory services to deliver an unparalleled solution for funds with proven benefits for fund members.”

Post-retirement, nearly two-thirds of Australians receive government assistance as their main source of income to meet everyday costs of living, yet many Australians are unaware of their eligibility due to complicated applications and an assumption of ineligibility. With 82% of retirees actively seeking help to apply for the age pension, Link Group’s precise analytics on retirement savings and spending will enable them to accurately identify when members would most benefit from assistance.

For members still actively working their way to retirement age, the partnership will provide ‘Superannuation Health Checks’ to help members prepare for retirement through access to timely information, advice and options in the lead up to the milestone.

The service partnership labelled ‘Retirement Ready’ will be available to members from April 12.

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Martin Switzer

Link Group and Switzer Asset Management have successfully re-launched the Switzer High Yield Fund (Managed Fund) as a quoted managed (active ETF) fund allowing units to be bought and sold on the stock exchange as well as directly from the issuer.

As the first fixed-income quoted managed fund to launch on the Australian market, Link Group has paved the way for fund managers to offer a consolidated product with all of the benefits of a dual fund and without the complexity or costs associated with running two structures.

To bring the product to market, Link Group worked closely with ASIC and the Chi-X Australia (Chi-X) to build a framework for dual-structure exchange traded products to ensure investors have the same transparency and registry capacity on and off market. Once Link Group secured regulatory approvals it worked with Switzer Asset Management to ensure the existing off-market fund satisfied all regulatory, disclosure and capacity requirements needed by Chi-X then united the two registry platforms into one structure.

Commenting on the transition, Paul Khoury, Chief Executive Officer APAC, Link Fund Solutions said: “We’re proud to have played our role in developing this innovative structure for the Australian market. The quoted managed fund is a product of two years of ideation and the resultant product will be celebrated by funds and investors alike.

“We have a significant amount of interest from our clients in launching these products, with our next one already underway and due to launch in March. Link Group will continue to enhance the operational efficiency of the product as the market size grows.”

Switzer Asset Management has worked with Link Group for three years providing solutions for both its listed and unlisted funds. The quoted managed fund leveraged Link Group’s existing sophisticated internal systems across both structures and combined them together to launch the all-in-one product.

The Switzer Higher Yield Fund (CXA:SHYF) is a floating-rate bond fund that seeks to provide investors with an attractive cash yield with low capital volatility by investing in a portfolio of high-quality and liquid fixed income securities. The fund aims to achieve total returns which are 1.5% to 3.0% greater than the RBA Cash Rate after fees and expenses on a rolling 12-month basis.

Talking to the new product offering, Martin Switzer, CEO of Contango Asset Management, parent company to Switzer Asset Management, said:

“SHYF is a simple-to-use, low-cost vehicle that has been relaunched with a listed entry point and provides access to one of the best credit managers in the country in Coolabah Capital Investments.

Pleasingly the new fund structure has been well supported by a number of investors who have been able to access the fund through the listed class of units.”

With 900,000 Australians looking to familiarise themselves with listed investments within 12 months, and listed managed funds recording significantly higher inflows than unlisted managed funds^[1], the new quoted managed fund offering allows fund managers to tap into retail investors that see traditional onboarding as overly cumbersome.

Link Group expects quoted managed funds will eventually become the default structure for all retail investor focussed managed funds.

———

[1] As cited in Mapping the evolution of Australian investing: The ASX Australian Investor Study 2020.

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HESTA was established in 1987 for people working in health and community services. Today, the fund manages $53 billion in assets globally on behalf of its more than 850,000 members.

HESTA Chief Executive Officer Debby Blakey said the decision to reappoint Link Group would deliver excellent outcomes for fund members.

“We are very pleased to continue our strong working partnership with Link Group as our fund administrator, and collaborating to produce great outcomes for our members including improved service and technology offerings,” she said.

“We look forward to working together to continue to deliver for our members and employers positive, technology-driven experiences and outcomes.”

Link Group Retirement & Superannuation Solutions CEO Dee McGrath said the Link Group team was excited to continue its work with HESTA.

“We are delighted to have been reappointed by HESTA as its fund administrator, and to continue our partnership delivering superior outcomes for its members and employers,” she said.”

“HESTA and its members in the health and community services sector play such an important role in our community, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are thrilled to be tasked with continuing to provide support to its 850,000 members.”

“This reappointment is also testament to the efforts and commitment of our retirement and superannuation solutions team, who work tirelessly to support our fund clients and their members, and of our continued investment in our industry-leading technology.”

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John McMurtrie

Link Administration Holdings (ASX:LNK) has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Pepper European Servicing (PES) from Pepper Group for an upfront consideration of  €165 million (~A$266 million) and up to a further €35 million (~A$56 million) if certain total Assets Under Management (AUM) thresholds and growth milestones are met.

PES provides end-to-end loan servicing, advisory and asset management across both residential and commercial segments.  The business has well established operations in the UK and Ireland underpinned by longstanding customer relationships as well as a growing presence in the emerging markets of Spain, Greece and Cyprus.

At 31 December 2019, PES had total AUM of circa €40billion (~A$65 billion) and generated revenue of €92.9 million (~A$149.9 million) and achieved a normalised EBITDA of €20.1 million (~A$32.4 million) for the year ending 31 December 2019.  The upfront acquisition price implies an Enterprise Value (EV) to EBITDA multiple of 8.2x or 6.0x after taking into account anticipated efficiency benefits and deferred payments for existing AUM protection.

The transaction accretion to Link Group’s Operating EPS[1] is expected to be greater than 10% from year one (pre-efficiencies and one-offs) with anticipated synergies expected to deliver 5%-6% further earnings accretion upside.

The acquisition is subject to relevant regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in the second half of calendar 2020. On completion, the business will be integrated with Link Group’s BCM business.

Link Group’s Managing Director, John McMurtrie, said: “This is an attractive transaction for Link Group. It provides an opportunity to integrate two high-quality businesses to create a leading pan-European asset servicer and manager, that is well positioned to capture growth opportunities across the region.

“PES is highly aligned to Link Group’s existing BCM business in the UK and Ireland with strong annuity style earning characteristics.  The combined business will also be strategically positioned to capture further growth opportunities in other European markets with PES’ established operations in Spain, Greece and Cyprus complementing Link Group’s established operations in the Netherlands and Italy,” Mr McMurtrie said.

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From Lef

Link Group (ASX: LNK), a leading global administrator of financial ownership data, has unveiled new mobile apps and voice-recognition capability, expanding the ways investors and shareholders engage with Link Group and its clients through digital channels.

Reflecting Link Group’s ongoing investment in technology, Link Group has announced the launch of a new mobile app for the Link Investor Centre platform and a new voice-activated assistant on Google Home, both of which will make it easier for investors to manage their share portfolios.

Link Investor Centre mobile app

The new Link Investor Centre mobile app offers a secure mobile platform for retail investors to access and manage their investments.

The app allows investors to quickly access information about their shareholdings and make updates to their account such as confirming payment instructions and advising communication preferences, via their mobile phone. Users can view payment history, access details of upcoming annual general meetings and submit votes online, all with the convenience and peace of mind of fingerprint authentication and PIN security options.

The app, available in both the App Store and Google Play Store, will be rolled out in Australia and New Zealand with other markets to follow shortly.

Voice-recognition technology

Link Group has also tapped into the increasing popularity of voice-activated tools, launching natural language assistants on both Google Home and through the Link Investor Centre to enable users to verbally ask for detail and information on how to manage their shareholdings.

Investors with Link-administered shares will now be able to use Google Home or the associated Google Assistant mobile app to ask real-time questions to the Link Market Services Assistant and receive helpful information on a range of topics, such as dividend payments, selling shares and updating personal details.

“By talking to the Assistant, investors can easily and quickly obtain information, without the hassle of sifting through web pages for the answer. Our new voice-recognition technology allows you to simply ask a question to access important investor information.

“The Assistant can answer common questions, such as ‘how do I sell my shares?’ and ‘how do I know the value of my shareholdings?’ Over time, capability will expand to provide more in-depth information about an investor’s individual account details via this channel,” said Link Group’s Technology & Innovation CEO Paul Gardiner.

Voice-recognition technology aligns with Link Group’s goal of making financial information and education more readily accessible to the everyday investor.

“Link Group is continually responding to how users are choosing to communicate and giving them tools that cater to their needs. That is why we developed natural language assistants, so that investors can talk to Link Market Services anywhere, at any time,” Mr Gardiner said.

Driving investor engagement

The latest additions to Link Group’s digital capabilities provide investors with more choice in the communication channels they can employ to manage their investment portfolio.

“Link Group will continue to invest in cutting-edge technology to empower investors to play a more active role in their portfolios and to support companies in creating more meaningful interactions with their shareholders.

“The market-leading product and technology solutions we offer allow us to be a true partner for our clients,” Mr Gardiner concluded.

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Duncan McPherson

Link Group (ASX: LNK) yesterday launched its latest digital advice product, Super Blueprint 3.0, to give more Australians access to easy and affordable quality financial advice.

Super Blueprint 3.0 provides members with tailored digital advice, in relation to their chosen superannuation fund.

Chief Executive Officer of Link Advice, Duncan McPherson, said Super Blueprint 3.0 distils complex financial concepts into easy-to-understand advice, that is delivered in a way that is personal, familiar and compelling.

“This latest upgrade brings a human element to digital advice, by speaking to members using first-person language. Super Blueprint 3.0 means members can generate their own advice from the comfort of their living rooms,” Mr McPherson said.

The bespoke algorithm was built over the past decade and has undergone rigorous, independent testing by a global actuary to ensure that it provides the best possible outcomes for superannuation fund clients and their members.

“Digital advice is a critical channel as we make advice more accessible and affordable for more Australians and is starting to play an important role in the hybrid advice experience being built by many superannuation funds combining telephone and face to face advice with digital,” Mr McPherson added.

Link Group will upgrade all its existing clients to Super Blueprint 3.0 in the next few months.

Link Group CEO of Fund Administration Suzanne Holden said Link is committed to investing in technology and experiences that provide superannuation funds with products that enable members to engage with their superannuation in a meaningful way.

“Our goal is to make financial advice more personal and accessible for all Australians. Digital advice can boost retirement outcomes by giving people access to information and advice that builds superannuation knowledge and engagement,” said Ms Holden.

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Craig Stevens

Link Group and AustSafe Super, one of the nation’s top performing super funds, has successfully completed a six-month pilot of push notification alerts via their AustSafe Super member mobile app to increase awareness around employer contributions and simplify the process for members to take their super with them when changing jobs.

The pilot utilised in-built push notification functionality, developed by the Link Group, to automatically alert members when their employer has paid a contribution into their super account.

According to AustSafe Super chief executive officer, Craig Stevens, the use of push notification technology is a great tool to help bring members closer to their super.

“As a Fund, it’s really important to be able to offer our members this functionality. It will help them engage more easily and frequently with their super and they can quickly see when contributions have been paid.

“There’s also functionality within the app that gives AustSafe Super members the ability to send a pre-populated Choice form to their new employer at the click of a button, making it easy to take their super fund with them when they change jobs,” he said.

Link’s Technology and Innovation chief executive officer, Paul Gardiner, said the arrival of push notifications encouraged members’ interest in their superannuation accounts and could assist funds with retention, especially of younger members who are the most active users of smartphones and mobile apps.

Mr Gardiner said that proactively alerting members about their superannuation contributions increases awareness of superannuation balances, which is particularly critical as Link works with its clients to address member engagement, especially members with lower balances.

“Link has worked hard to develop a cost-effective mobile app solution that is available to all our clients, and we’re excited that we’ve been able to work in conjunction with AustSafe Super to pilot this new capability within the app and give their members increased visibility of their super,” he said.

Push notifications are widely considered ideal for member-based organisations, with super funds in particular looking to use technology to enhance the user experience for members.

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