Asked about ANZ’s strategy to capture superannuation market share at a Bloomberg event in Sydney yesterday, Ms Phillips acknowledged there “are some parts of the value chain that others do better than us”.
“We hadn’t been that successful with the traditional platform space,” she said.
As a result, ANZ is investing heavily in the digital area, said Ms Phillips – particularly given that Generations X and Y are set to control 80 per cent of superannuation assets in the “next few years”.
ANZ’s Smart Choice Super product is “completely digital” and, as a result, among the lowest products in the market when it comes to affordability, Ms Phillips said.
“We charge a 50 basis points administration fee and a $50 annual fee … and we do this largely by providing index solutions behind this investment option,” she said.
The new low-cost super product has pulled in $2 billion in funds under management in the 20 months since its inception, Ms Phillips said.
ANZ is also looking to cross-sell to new customers who are taking up the Smart Choice Super product.
“The interesting thing is 10 per cent of the clients are new to banks so we’re using this to deepen existing relationships with our existing five million customer base,” she said.
“But we’re also seeing that clients are taking on protection solutions immediately, and we’re diversifying beyond just a superannuation relationship,” Ms Phillips said.
ANZ is still looking to grow out its SMSF solution despite selling off its administration firm Super Concepts in November 2013, she said.
“We’ve also launched a self-managed super fund [solution]; that’s just early days and we’re building an advice model for it,” Ms Phillips said.
“We’re leveraging the platform Super IQ. Where we can leverage what others do well we will, and that’s what we want to focus on so that’s very much our strategy,” she said.
