Message from the CEO

Helping our clients achieve a sense of freedom and wellbeing through greater financial security is something we care deeply about.

When First State Super and StatePlus combined forces in 2016, we created the largest member-owned financial advisory practice in Australia, with a network of over 200 financial planners and a combined asset pool now nudging A$100 billion.

Our combined superannuation and advice business is run solely to benefit you and our other 800,000 clients around Australia. So what does this mean for you?

To deliver even better outcomes for our clients and maximise the benefits of our strength and scale, we integrated StatePlus and First State Super, and transferred the members and assets of the StatePlus Retirement Fund to a new section within First State Super on 1 July 2019. Most StatePlus clients are now members of First State Super.

As the CEO of First State Super, I’m absolutely thrilled about the long-term benefits of this change. It’s a significant step towards our goal of creating outstanding client experiences and ensuring we deliver long-term sustainable investment returns.

I’d like to thank Graeme Arnott for his outstanding leadership and enormous contribution as CEO of StatePlus over the last three years. And I’d like to congratulate him in his new role as Deputy CEO, First State Super. Together we will continue to focus on the outcomes you want, and support you throughout your retirement journey.

We want to be Australia’s most trusted choice for retirement, superannuation and advice. The financial services Royal Commission highlighted the importance of community expectations and placing the needs of the customer at the forefront of service design, development and delivery.

I’m proud to say that First State Super’s ‘Members First’ culture has always placed the needs of our clients at the heart of our business decisions. We’re working closely with our national network of planners, reviewing and refining our approach, so we can deliver market-leading products and services, including aged care and estate planning advice, that give you the peace of mind, service and support you need, when you need it.

By leveraging our size and scale, we’re confident we can drive down costs for our clients and access a broader range of investment opportunities. That’s why we’re currently exploring the benefits of a merger with VicSuper. Like us, VicSuper has a long heritage in the public sector. Our culture and values are very similar. We’re both profit-to-member funds and we both have strong in-house financial planning services.

If we go ahead, this merger would make us the leading fund for retirement and great advice – helping our clients make the most of their retirement.

I look forward to bringing you more updates in the future.

Deanne Stewart, Chief Executive Officer