Chris Briant

Retail Employee Superannuation Trust (REST), one of Australia’s largest super funds, with over $60 billion in assets and more than two million members, appointed Parametric and Calvert Research and Management (Calvert), part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management the asset management division of Morgan Stanley, to manage the equities allocation across the newly launched REST Sustainable Growth Option (the Option).

The REST Sustainable Growth Option is a diversified portfolio with enhanced environmental, social and governance investment characteristics weighted towards growth assets. It has an asset allocation across Australian and overseas shares, property, infrastructure, bonds and cash.

Global responsible investment leader Calvert will manage the equities portion of this new Option (which make up approximately 72.5% of the total portfolio), supported by implementation specialist manager Parametric.

The portfolio is positively tilted to companies who are demonstrated leaders in environmental sustainability and resource efficiency, or who are socially equitable and respect human rights, or can demonstrate accountable governance and transparency.

Companies who are involved in labour and human rights abuses, unethical supply chains, fossil fuels, animal cruelty, gender discrimination, tobacco, gambling, palm oil, controversial weaponry, or have a recent track record of environmental damage, or excessive executive remuneration have been excluded from all equity allocations.

The Option’s investments in Australian and overseas shares also aims to have a lower carbon intensity compared to their relative benchmarks.

“We are delighted to have been selected by REST for their industry-leading, low-cost Sustainable Growth Option and after-tax solutions,” says Chris Briant, Head of Australia and New Zealand, Parametric and Calvert.

He says: “This is the first time in Australia we have been able to combine the deep alpha-seeking Responsible Investment capabilities of Calvert with the specialist after-tax-focused implementation strategies of Parametric.”

Calvert’s deep company-level ESG research and over 40 years of experience in areas such as active proxy voting, custom screening, and a focus on an improved ESG performance, as well as Parametric’s specialist implementation offering provides the customized solution REST was seeking.”

Mr. Briant says there is a growing demand from Australian super funds for responsible investing strategies and after-tax solutions, so to be able to secure this mandate with a combined offering is a milestone achievement for Eaton Vance in the Australian market and testimony to the quality of the Calvert and Parametric offerings.

John Streur, CEO of Calvert adds: “Australian super funds are focusing on responsible investing, and have been active in the market for that reason. We were able to demonstrate the intellectual capital behind Calvert’s decades long dedication to responsible investing, and look forward to working with REST to enhance its investment offering to its more than two million members that may choose this Option.”

“The launch of our new Sustainable Growth option is a welcome expansion to the range of options that we offer to our members. Our REST Investments team are pleased to utilise Parametric and Calvert’s equity portfolio construction skills to deliver a diversified investment option offering strong long-term returns within enhanced environmental, social and governance criteria,” says Andrew Lill, Chief Investment Officer at REST.

“REST remains dedicated to providing our members with the opportunity to reach their personal best retirement outcome, by providing greater choice and consistently low-fees across our investment offerings. The introduction of this option has also allowed us to respond to the wants and needs of a number of our members, who have expressed that ethical investing is an important consideration for them when making decisions about how to best invest their super,”  says Mr. Lill.

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Rest will implement Charles River IMS to support their internally managed investments as well as their ‘whole-of-fund’ requirements, leveraging the Charles River Investment Book of Record (IBOR) for realtime cash and positions. Rest will use Charles River to support and deliver a transparent view and workflow across their business, including portfolio construction, decision support, risk, collateral management, order management and compliance.

“The platform’s flexibility and scalability will enable us to automate processes and achieve efficiencies at this time as we build a global best practice internal investment capability. Combining internal and external investment management in one desktop system will allow us to focus real-time on achieving strong long-term returns for our members,” said Andrew Lill, Chief Investment Officer, Rest.

“Charles River continues to build a strong local presence in Melbourne which is critical to supporting our growing client base in the superannuation sector,” said Cameron Field, managing director – Asia Pacific, Charles River Development. “The adoption of Microsoft Azure as the cloud platform for our SaaS deployment delivers compelling benefits for this market such as the ability for clients to rapidly deploy new products and services, ease of increasing data and computing capacity, as well as a suitable approach for addressing data residency concerns.”

State Street currently provides Rest with custodial services as well as their data management solution State Street Alpha℠ Data Services.

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Rest has integrated its online virtual assistant, ‘Roger’ into Google Home

Rest, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds with almost two million members, yesterday announced the integration of its online virtual assistant, ‘Roger’ into Google Home, giving members’ spoken support to commonly asked questions.

The new service is a reflection of the fund’s evolving customer service experience, including an ongoing commitment to making it easier for one in six working Australians to connect with their super fund.

Other components of Rest’s customer-focused experience, include the award-winning online virtual customer service specialist Roger, who has been helping visitors to the Rest website for over a year and the introduction of a Rest app.

Rest General Manager Customer Service, Beth Parkin, said integrating Roger with Google Home made access to Roger easier than ever before.

“The integration of Roger with Google Home gives us new ways to connect with our members at times convenient to them, and in ways that are relevant to their lifestyles,” said Ms Parkin.
“Roger can already respond to 96 per cent of questions posed to it online, and we expect to carry this success rate through to the Google Home integration.”

Roger has answered over 300,000 questions since its launch, highlighting the increasing need for more convenient self-service capabilities from superannuation funds across the country, and has artificial intelligence capabilities to help it continue to learn and improve over time. This will help expand the range of topics Roger can respond to and drive the development of new functionality.

Ms Parkin said, “We listen to our customers and we are constantly evolving our service offering to meet their expectations and the changing way they interact with us. We are committed to making it easier for our members to communicate with us – now, this can be as simple as saying ‘Ok Google, Talk to Rest Super’.”

The introduction of Roger on Google Home is the latest on the list of digitally led services introduced by Rest, including the Rest App with industry-first in-app messaging, a Live Chat function on the website and interactive online member statements.

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Damian Hill

REST Industry Super has become Australia’s first superannuation fund to service its 1.9 million members’ enquiries online 24/7 with the launch of ‘Roger’ – REST’s online virtual customer service specialist.

‘Roger’ instantly responds to REST member’s super-related queries online, 24/7 and from any internet-enabled device.

REST Industry Super CEO Damian Hill said the new virtual customer service specialist uses advanced artificial intelligence to continually learn and add to its knowledge base to offer a more bespoke member experience.

Mr. Hill said, “We’ve looked at what our members are contacting us about and what they’re searching on our website to build ‘Roger’s’ knowledge base. As the newest member of REST’s customer service team, ‘Roger’ will continue to learn and develop, working alongside our existing channels to enhance our overall service experience”.

‘Roger’ is complemented by REST’s newly launched Live Chat, offering members online support from a REST customer service specialist through the live messaging function on its website.

“We’ve seen incredible success from its soft launch in December with ’Roger’ reporting about 1500 interactions a day while Live Chat, which offers extended hours beyond our call centre, is averaging more than 150 interactions a day from members within Australia and as far away as Chile, Sweden, Taiwan, South Africa, USA and Nepal.

“The launch of ‘Roger’ and Live Chat follows the appointment of Beth Parkin, REST’s General Manager of Customer Service, whose digital experience has enabled us to be at the forefront of expanding our customer service offering to enhance our overall member and employer experience,” Mr Hill added.

The new virtual customer service specialist is delivered on Creative Virtual’s leading customer experience platform V-Portal TM.

Patrick Gallagher, Managing Director ANZ & North Asia, Creative Virtual said, “Members are increasingly turning to self-service and digital channels for customer service. ‘Roger’ – the virtual customer service specialist, is like a new employee, continuously learning and improving his capabilities and will over time offer more personalised support to REST members.”

Mr. Hill added, “With the introduction of ‘Roger’ and Live Chat members can ask about their super in a supportive online environment anytime and from anywhere. In addition, ‘Roger’ is also on hand to help answer the general public’s enquiries about REST’s products and services.”

‘Roger’ has replaced the search function on REST’s website and is accessible with Live Chat on the ‘contact us’ page.

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