With transparency of superannuation funds remaining a hot topic, AustralianSuper held one of its two annual member briefings in Sydney last week.
Attended by 130 people, it provided an opportunity for members to meet and mingle with the AustralianSuper executive and ask some tough questions, while partaking in some delicious post-briefing refreshments.
"I think it's great. It's the ultimate experience because you can bowl up and speak to any of the directors on the board or any managers of the fund," AustralianSuper chief executive Ian Silk told Investor Weekly after the meeting.
"You always have your fingers crossed that there's not going to be anything that you're not able to answer."
Member questions came from attendees and via a webcast. They ranged from queries about the upgrade to the AustralianSuper administration system that will allow daily trading to whether or not the fund would consider investing in infrastructure.
AustralianSuper chairman Elana Rubin said in her introduction that the meetings were a really good way for the fund to get a feel for members' concerns.
Certainly last year when the world was in the thick of the global financial crisis, the AustralianSuper member briefing allowed members to vent concerns.
"Last year we had 400 people. It was incredible. We ran out of seats and we acted upon many of the concerns that were highlighted," Silk said.
While the member briefings, held almost like a quasi-annual general meeting, are a major plank of AustralianSuper's member communication strategy, other industry funds are not rushing to follow its lead.
Hostplus chief executive David Elia said such meetings were not really appropriate for his fund's demographic.
"Lots of different funds do different things, depending on the demographics of the fund. In our case our forums are in the workplace and in that case you definitely know you are going to get a turn up," Elia said.
Sunsuper chief executive Tony Lally agreed and said that for his fund the annual member meetings could be impersonal.
"We have a number of member and employer meetings where myself and chief investment officer David Hartley participate. We find that's a very intimate way to speak to people in their own location and it gives people a chance to meet us and they don't have to travel," Lally said.
"We don't think it's [an AGM] very relevant for our members and we don't think that it's really that personal. We also have a lot of people on the ground in these places. They have good relationships with the members and we really want to develop that."
However, Elia said having any type of face-to-face meeting with members was good for funds.
"If they are largely question and answer, where you're effectively being challenged, it's a really, really good way to get a sense of what the membership is thinking about," he said.
"The people that do rock up are the people who have a genuine interest, so you'd expect that there would be some type of dialogue."
