Vision Super eyes banking within super
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:40pm
Vision Super makes history in the industry fund sector when it paired up with transactional banking provider Cuscal to offer fund members a banking service to access their super savings.
Vision Super's fund development manager David Moxon said members over the age of 60 can now avail of the new investment option, a cash management product linked to a Visa debit card.
Like traditional bank cards, fund members can use the product to pay utility bills, theatre tickets, holidays or any other payments that accept Visa.
The difference is that the member's funds are still in a 'pension product' and is therefore in a more tax-effective environment than if the same funds were transferred to a normal bank account.
"The SuperVantage account makes Vision Super the first industry fund to provide members with easy, convenient access to their savings while maintaining their money in a tax-free enviroment for longer," said Rob Brooks, Vision's chief executive.
Phil Hurley, Cuscal's general manager, customers, said that Vision is their first client win in the super fund arena, a new market for the company, which has traditionally been a provider of banking and transactional services for credit unions.
"It makes sense because we already have the infrastructure to provide the service," he said.
He added that Vision benefits from Cuscal's long-running partnership with Visa and the fact that Cuscal is a deposit-taking institution, which means all its funds are covered by the government's guarantee.
But the real winners, said Moxon, are the fund members who can now sidestep the cumbersome and costly process of taking their money out of their pension account just so they can avail of banking services outside their super.
Brooks said, "With the launch of our banking service linked to an allocated pension account, our vision is for retailers to ask, "Will you be paying for that by cheque, credit, savings or super?"
The product is currently being piloted and will be officially available to members in February next year.
Michelle Baltazar
This story was found at: http://www.financialstandard.com.au/news/view/24493
Printed: Saturday, 13 March 2010 7:54am