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TRUSTEE GOVERNANCE & PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS The Trustee Governance and Professional Standards department aims to develop the professionalism and integrity of the trustee community, while maintaining the important roles which diversity and representation play in fund governance. With the Not-for-profit Fund Governance Framework for superannuation funds to be launched in 2011 and the first tranche of its Professional Standards to be released later in that year, AIST is equipped to assist its members in a wide range of governance and standards activities. AIST provides guidance in the following areas: »» board structure, recruitment and succession planning director competencies and training »» disclosing and managing conflicts of interest Eva Scheerlinck, Trustee Governance & Professional Standards Manager AIST is committed to supporting the good governance practices and culture of not-for-profit superannuation funds. As such, AIST established a specialised Trustee Governance and Professional Standards department in December 2010 to develop guidelines and suitable tools for its members, as well as assisting them with monitoring, measuring and benchmarking governance practices in the industry. It has long been accepted that poor governance practices are intricately linked with poor fund performance. Strengthening governance practices therefore can only benefit fund performance and member satisfaction. It is AIST’s aim to link good financial returns with the good governance practices inherent in not-for-profit fund structure, build on those competencies and share best practice processes and outcomes with the industry. »» board committees »» relationships with nominating bodies and service providers »» remuneration policy and disclosure »» governance charters and codes of conduct »» assessment and monitoring of the fitness and propriety standards AIST will be working with its members to further develop gold standard governance practices in the years ahead. To complement strengthened governance practices, AIST recognises that a robust framework of professional standards will assist trustees to achieve optimal performance, not only for their members but to ensure that transparency and accountability applies to all business practices of superannuation trustees. AIST is committed to providing trustees with the tools to achieve greater efficiency, accountability and sustainability into the future through the professional guidance that this framework will provide. 32
MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS The other hot media issue for the year was the Cooper Review and the Government’s response to the Review’s recommendations. During the year AIST fielded a host of enquiries on the Cooper recommendations and we conducted many interviews with key journalists about specific recommendations of concern, such as Cooper’s controversial Choice Architecture. Towards the latter part of the year, we were particularly vocal about Cooper’s efforts to dismantle the equal representative system. Our concerns were highlighted in several business press articles and an opinion piece was written by AIST president Gerard Noonan. Janet de Silva, Media & Communication Manager AIST received a significant amount of media exposure during 2010 as our opinion and commentary was sought on a diverse range of issues. The headline issue of the year and a key focus of our media engagement strategy was the Government’s landmark decision to lift the Superannuation Guarantee to 12 per cent and introduce reforms for low-income earners and older workers. AIST took every opportunity in its ongoing dialogue with media commentators to raise awareness about the reform package, explain its benefits, and counter arguments from employer and other groups that the move to 12 percent would be costly to implement. This proactive media work included participating in joint media conferences with other industry associations; publicising AIST ‘Newspolls’ which showed overwhelming public support for 12 per cent; and the publication of our opinion pieces in national and other mainstream newspapers. AIST was also active in responding to the mining industry’s campaign against the proposed mining tax. Our comments on some of the inaccuracies of the campaign were widely covered by the national press, television and radio outlets. As in previous years, AIST also sought to publicise the outperformance of not-for-profit super funds. We used data from APRA and the ratings agencies to highlight the superior performance of our member funds compared to other funds and we also made frequent use of various independent research that exposed damaging conflicts of interest in the ‘for-profit’ space. We were equally energetic on the issue of the gender gap in super savings and the need to increase the proportion of women on super boards, ensuring that these issues received attention by prominent journalists. AIST’s lunches and conferences also enjoyed excellent media coverage during the year as did the release of AIST’s research with Rice Warner on fund manager fees. COMMUNICATING TO MEMBERS AIST’s regular online newsletter – The Advocate - continues to be well-received. Timely and relevant policy updates means this newsletter is increasingly valued as a member benefit. This year members received additional issues as we sought to respond quickly to the many reviews and policy announcements. Similarly, the response to SuperTalk continues to be positive. Increasingly, member funds are realising that this bi-annual member publication provides a wonderful opportunity to spread their news and share ideas. 33
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