Transfer of Christian Super members to Australian Ethical
Why is this happening?
APRA (one of the regulators for super funds) placed a number of licence conditions upon Christian Super which led Christian Super to consider whether transferring their members to another super fund was in the best financial interests of those members. Christian Super considered a number of possible funds with Australian Ethical being deemed the strongest candidate with our purpose driven investment approach being a key factor in this decision.
Ethical investing. It’s all we’ve done since 1986.
There will be no change to how we invest our clients’ money or how we run our company. Our Ethical Charter will remain unchanged. We will still be the same inclusive company we have always been, investing and advocating for positive change, respecting, and promoting equality and diversity. We’re also confident that welcoming these new members is in the best financial interests of our existing Australian Ethical members. It helps to amplify our impact as proven pioneers of ethical and responsible investment in Australia and enables us to share the benefits of our increasing scale, through continued fee reductions and improvements to member experience.
We’re anticipating that the member transfer will occur later this year or early in 2023.
There is no change for Australian Ethical members. It’s business as usual. However, it is anticipated that the additional scale of this opportunity will enable us to pass on benefits such as fee reductions and additional member services.
No. Our Ethical Charter, our ethical frameworks, our advocacy, and our unique inclusive culture will remain the same. The same goes for how we invest our members’ money. If anything, our impact will simply be strengthened by the prospect of up to 30,000 additional Australians joining us and investing for a better world with Australian Ethical.
No. This SFT is not a pivot in our philosophy towards religion of any kind, it’s simply a transition of members from one fund to another.
To reiterate, the following would not change, not today, not tomorrow, not ever:
- the ethical way we invest your money
- our Ethical Charter
- our engagement with companies
- our advocacy for a better world
- our position on climate change
- our positions on diversity and inclusion
No
No. Our Ethical Charter, our ethical frameworks, our advocacy, and our unique inclusive culture will remain the same. The same goes for how we invest our members’ money. If anything, our impact will simply be strengthened by the prospect of up to 30,000 additional Australians joining us and investing for a better world with Australian Ethical.
For some people there may be. But people from all kinds of backgrounds choose to invest their money ethically. Ethical investing is for people with different world views who share the common purpose of wanting to invest for a better world.
We’ve seen extraordinary growth recently as people seek to invest their money for a better world. And so when we were approached by Christian Super as part of their journey to find a suitable fund for their members, we were excited at the opportunity of welcoming up to 30,000 additional people to our way of investing.
Following a period of due diligence, both Boards have decided that the SFT is in members’ best financial interests thanks to our history of strong performance and growing scale. Beyond this, the opportunity amplifies our positive impact on people, planet and animals at a time when it’s never been so urgent or necessary.
No, the Australian Ethical Investment Limited Board will not change as a result of this SFT. We are considering appointing an additional member to the Australian Ethical Super Board to maintain strong governance as we accommodate the large jump in member numbers. Any appointment would be in accordance with our standard recruitment process which assess skills and suitability. The Australian Ethical Super Board acts as the Trustee of the super fund which looks out for members’ best financial interests and member outcomes.
John McMurdo will remain as CEO of Australian Ethical and all his senior leadership team will remain in place. We’ll consider the addition of selected Christian Super staff as needed to ensure a seamless transition for all members.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
Yes. We are already actively investing in our member experience, building capacity in our contact centre, and investing in new tools to improve customer experience.
