Amara Haqqani

Bennelong Funds Management (Bennelong) has become Climate Positive, offsetting 200% of its operational emissions and eclipsing the net-zero commitments of many of its financial institution counterparts.

As part of a broader strategy to make the organisation more sustainable, Bennelong has measured the carbon footprint of its energy use, waste, travel and suppliers, and purchased carbon credits through Australian, female-founded, climate-tech startup trace, to not just become ‘carbon neutral’, but go beyond this commitment to become ‘Climate Positive’.

For trace and Bennelong, Climate Positive means more than just offsetting more emissions than are produced; it signifies an approach to climate-conscious business that’s transparent, engaging and accessible, allowing staff, customers and stakeholders to be active participants in making change.

Bennelong’s Chief Client Strategy Officer Amara Haqqani cites these qualities as one of the core reasons why the organisation selected trace as its partner of choice to take this step. “At Bennelong, the principles of sustainable development are integrated across our entire way of working. It was important that our approach to net-zero incorporated staff engagement and tangible impact – rather than being treated as a box to be ticked – and trace was the ideal partner to achieve that,” she said.

To demonstrate its commitment to enhancing the organisation’s sustainability beyond public statements and strategies, Bennelong has also engaged trace to run an employee carbon footprint engagement campaign to bring staff ‘along the Climate Positive journey’ with them. This includes delivering educational content and tips, powered by an online platform for the team that encourages them to pledge to reduce their personal emissions through actions such as eating more plant-based food or switching to low-emissions transport options.

Co-founder of trace, Joanna Auburn, noted that Bennelong is the first of its business members to not just offset 100% of its footprint (or slightly more), but to offset 200% of its footprint and use the initiative as a foundation for amplifying impact across the business. “Most organisations that make net-zero pledges and offset their emissions do so in a siloed fashion – usually led by management and operationalised by a sustainability or marketing team, without engaging the broader team on the decision-making process, or educating them on how they as individuals can contribute to making a positive impact. An organisation of Bennelong’s size has the potential to significantly amplify its impact simply by looping in its employees, and giving them the knowledge and tools they need to contribute”, she said.

Bennelong’s CEO, Craig Bingham, said trace and Bennelong are looking forward to exploring other opportunities through their partnership, including expanding the Climate Positive initiative to Bennelong’s portfolio of boutique asset management partners, and potentially its overseas operations in the UK and US (operating as BennBridge).

“In an era when social justice, climate change and heightened regulations are front of mind for investors across the globe, it’s important for fund managers to look beyond purely commercial objectives to ways in which they can influence societal change for the better. We’re continuing to explore this space with our partners across the globe, and are committed to supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth,” said Craig.

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[1] http://www.our-trace.com/

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Ms Haqqani will focus on identifying the needs of Bennelong’s clients, both domestically and offshore, and ensuring investment products and solutions are developed to meet those needs. Marta Galli, senior product manager, will report to Ms Haqqani.

Mr Bingham said Ms Haqqani’s in-depth knowledge of funds management and financial policy and strategy will play a pivotal role as Bennelong continues to grow in Australia and beyond.

“The traditional client profile is changing, and we’re working in a more nuanced and complex environment. It’s critical that we adapt and build solutions to meet those changing clients’ needs to ensure we remain relevant to our clients into the future.

“Amara’s extensive experience and passion for customer-centricity is the perfect fit for Bennelong in our ongoing commitment to put our clients at the heart of everything we do.”

Ms Haqqani was most recently a director for actuarial consulting firm Milliman. Prior to this, she held senior policy and compliance roles at the Financial Services Council, Challenger Limited and RBC Global Asset Management, as well as product roles at Equity Trustees, Orchard and Aviva.

“Following a number of years focusing on superannuation members and their retirement income needs, I am now broadening my scope to all types of financial services clients,” said Ms Haqqani.

“I’m looking forward to using my experience across product, policy and risk management to further develop Bennelong’s offering.”

The appointment follows a trio of recent hires at Bennelong’s UK arm, BennBridge, bolstering its senior leadership team. Naureen Khan has been appointed managing director, Client Group UK and Europe; Dicken Watson has been appointed chief business officer and general counsel; and Charles Oldmeadow has been appointed director, client group UK and Europe.

“Our global offering spans various audiences, but what remains consistent is our focus on delivering the best outcomes for our clients,” said Mr Bingham.

“These appointments further strengthen our client capability as we position the business for the next phase in its growth – both here in Australia and overseas.”

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Josh Funder

Household Capital’s 2020 Third Pillar Forum launched yesterday as an online experience. The online forum includes a live panel discussion and interviews with 27 experts from around the world.

The Forum’s live national panel debate was hosted by Ali Moore in the Melbourne studio with Andrew Boal, CEO of Rice Warner and Joshua Funder, CEO of Household Capital. Senator the Hon Jane Hume, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology, along with Aware Super CEO Deanne Stewart and Milliman’s Amara Haqqani joined from the Aware Super Sydney office. Peter Harris, former Chairman of the Productivity Commission and author Jean Kitson joined respectively from Queensland and New South Wales.

The robust conversation covered the three pillars of retirement funding: the government pension, superannuation and voluntary savings including home equity. The panel also addressed wider topical concerns around aged care, the significant disparity between the sexes in retirement wealth, the need for education and engagement, as well as focussing into specific action points such as proposed increases to the standard employer contribution of 9.5 percent, or including the home in the asset test.

Senator Hume said, “The concept of the third pillar is actually really important, the importance of that third pillar in providing for retirement has been really overlooked I think in the policy conversation about retirement so far. And a third pillar, or voluntary savings, is incredibly important to the retirement security of Australians. For many, as we know, the family home is possibly the most significant form of voluntary savings that retirees have historically had, because retirees have historically had a very high level of home ownership compared to other countries, in Australia. However, the family home is not actually considered a part of a person’s retirement income.”

Dr Joshua Funder, Chief Executive Officer of Household Capital said, “Home isn’t just a source of funding, it’s not just a house. It’s your identity, it’s your family, it’s your community, it’s housing, and it’s a source of funding.” Advocating for the need for change, Funder said, “Older Australians are some of the wealthiest in the world, they live longer than ever and yet they are worried.”

Key topics

The key topics discussed by the lively panel included the three pillars, aged care, women in old aged poverty, education and engagement.

The three pillars

The live panel provided a unique opportunity to cohesively focus on all the three pillars of retirement funding: the age care pension, superannuation and home equity.

The funding amount is significant. “There’s a trillion dollars in home equity owned by Australian retirees – using this responsibly for long-term funding can improve retirement,” said Funder.

Senator Jane Hume said, “Ultimately what we need to be thinking about is the interaction of all three pillars of the system: the aged pension, superannuation and the third pillar, and how they work together to deliver for Australians in retirement.”

Deanne Stewart, CEO, Aware Super said, “Threading the needle between pillars one, two and three needs good quality and affordable advice. This results in confidence and good mental health in retirement.”

Aged care

Aged care is a major concern of every Australian, with the Royal Commission and COVID bringing it sharply into focus and later aged care being of particular importance.

Jean Kitson, author of Let’s Talk About Mum and Dad said, “I found there was a lot of fear about aging and aged care and especially the capacity to pay for your care. I think that fear, it also comes out of that narrative, that older Australians are a burden. That has been a terrible narrative and it sets up a conflict between older Australians and people who are making financial policy and economists. That puts everyone in a defensive mode.

“My parents are pensioners and they manage, they don’t imagine. They have lives, not lifestyles.”

Andrew Boal, CEO, Rice Warner pointed to the escalating costs in later life. “We’re living longer but only about half of that is healthy. After age 82, nearly 50 percent have health issues,” he said. “The cost of health care after age 85 is about five times higher than the cost of healthcare for a 35 year old. And then you’ve got aged care. Am I going to need it? To what extent? I don’t know. So I’m going to have to reserve a whole lot of capital just for those things just in case.”

Women in old aged poverty

The levels of poverty of women in retirement were of concern to all members of the panel.

Deanne Stewart, CEO of Aware Super  said, “Two thirds of our members are female. We see a real disparity between males and females. Females are retiring on 57 percent of their male counterparts. One in three women get to retirement without superannuation.”

Kitson empathised, “It’s women on their own, mostly women on their own, on one pension and renting. They’re the ones in a lot of strife and who really struggle.”

Stewart explained the reasons behind the lower fund balances. “About one third of it is the career breaks. Taking time out, maternity leave, looking after elderly parents. About two thirds of it is due to wage differences. Women tend to work more part time, and that gender pay gap. Underneath that data is not just about women, but those with very low income. And those that are more casualized or part-time, or in the gig economy.”

Funder spoke to the broader issue of supporting all older Australians, including women, to have a dignified old age. “Many Australians, particularly single retired Australians, particularly single female retired Australians have only one pillar and it’s the pension and where those Australians are in the private rental market, they’re amongst the poorest and most vulnerable of Australians. So, that’s not a question about three pillars, that’s a question about helping those people live with dignity throughout their lives. We all need to come together and agree on a whole range of help that’s needed to make sure those aged Australians aren’t vulnerable, poor and can live with dignity.”

Education and engagement

The panel all spoke to the importance of education and engagement to increase knowledge and confidence. This becomes increasingly challenging as customers age.

“What we really want is people to be more engaged in their superannuation and more engaged, including their superannuation as part of their personal balance sheet,” said Senator Hume.

Amara Haqqani, Director, Milliman asked, “What processes and policies can we put in place to encourage engagement between people and their retirement funding? We need to be better at providing education to retirees.”

Haqqani spoke to the need to be education rather than product focussed. “We talk about guidance, financial guidance, financial counseling. It all comes back to getting the basics right to get people confident. Once you’ve got them understanding their own retirement needs, then you can start looking at products.”

Financial technology may play an important role in making mass information accessible. “We can use technology to help ‘middle Australia’ navigate an appropriate retirement strategy,” said Boal.

Harris spoke strongly for the need for independent expert advice. “We need a form of navigator here, and it has to be a trusted navigator. It’s a person who provides better information in your particular circumstances. We don’t really develop such people for the purposes of aging.”

The benefits will be seen across society. “We need to get retirees confident in their finances and their lifestyle. That will encourage consumption which is good for everyone” said Funder.

Online in 2020

The inaugural Third Pillar Forum was hosted in Melbourne in October 2019.

Dr Joshua Funder, Chief Executive Officer of Household Capital, said, “We were strongly committed to ensuring that the 2020 Third Pillar Forum went ahead. Now more than ever it is essential that the government and the industry seeks solutions that allow older Australians to live safely and securely in their old age.”

As a fintech Household Capital, had been delivering 100 percent digital customer service to older Australians since before lockdown so while the move online was new, it was a natural development.

Funder continues, “We have continued to grow throughout the pandemic, providing support, information and funding for our customers through an online customer experience and through video and telephone support. Delivering the forum online fits with our commitment to provide great content, drive the conversation and build a movement to deliver all three pillars of retirement wealth to older Australians. This year’s format enabled us to invite all our customers as well as industry experts who could join live and ask questions of the panel. Household Capital looks forward to hosting industry events in a more normal future, but following the successful response to this year’s online broadcast element, will continue to ensure widespread access to our content and national conversation.”

The 2020 event was attended by Household Capital customers, industry leaders and media. As well as the live panel, the Third Pillar Forum includes interviews and content from experts and advocates from Australia and around the world.

Join the conversation

Household Capital is committed to keeping this topic alive throughout the year. Join the conversation on Twitter #thirdpillarforum. Watch the live panel discussion as well as to view 27 videos from world leading experts.

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Amara Haqqani

Milliman, a global actuarial consulting firm and leading provider of risk management and retirement services, has appointed retirement expert Amara Haqqani as director of strategy and solutions in Australia.

Haqqani has spent close to two decades in financial services including four years at annuities provider Challenger, where she served as senior manager, retirement income policy, and advised chairman of retirement income, Jeremy Cooper.

She was most recently consulting to the Financial Services Council on superannuation, retirement income and funds management policy initiatives, in particular those related to the Productivity Commission’s Superannuation inquiry and the Royal Commission into Banking and Financial Services.

“Australians are retiring with larger superannuation balances than ever before but many people, particularly middle-income earners, still feel uncertainty about what to do with that money,” Haqqani said.

“In a world where many are now beginning to focus on this issue, Milliman has the deep thinking, big data, analytics and technology to actually help people build the retirement they want and to help the industry deliver the products and services that retirees need. I look forward to working with the Milliman team at this important time for the industry.”

Haqqani’s appointment comes at a time of intense scrutiny for the financial services industry as it deals with the fallout from the Royal Commission and Productivity Commission inquiry into superannuation. Meanwhile, the industry is also faced with developing a range of new income-focused products that support the sector’s new objective of providing income in retirement to substitute or supplement the Age Pension.

Milliman Australia practice leader Wade Matterson said building retirement solutions was one of the most complex problems faced by the industry.

“Building retirement solutions requires actuarial, data science, investment management, behavioural finance, communications, and digital skills. Yet, at heart, it is a human problem that requires an understanding of how people act rather than how we expect they should behave. Milliman’s expertise covers all aspects of the retirement value chain and Amara’s appointment further boosts our ability to help the industry create truly tailored retirement experiences.”

Milliman’s services include:

• The Milliman Retirement Expectations and Spending Profiles (ESP), which uses a variety of big data sources, including the anonymized bank transaction data of more than 300,000 retirees, allowing funds and advisers to better understand the spending patterns of retirees.
• Risk overlay services, which manages excessive volatility and provides a cushion against extended market downturns. These services are used by a wide range of firms including Colonial First State, Plato Investment Management, BetaShares, Maritime Super and financial planning dealer groups.
• The Milliman Goals-Based Advice Platform, which brings enterprise-grade algorithms to analyse thousands of scenarios based on clients’ personal financial position and goals. It provides deep insights and allows clients to make informed decisions about competing goals and priorities.

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