Former APRA deputy chair launches retirement solutions startup

A former APRA deputy chair has launched CipherIQ, a new venture that provides retirement solutions via account-based pensions in partnership with superannuation funds, financial advisers and retirees.

Ian Laughlin, serving as chair, works alongside joint managing director and chief executive Jayesh Bhana, and joint managing director and chief research officer Cary Helenius.

Laughlin said the new firm helps navigate the complexities of retirement income planning under the Retirement Income Covenant.

Cipher IQ centres on personalised online retirement-income modelling platform MyRI, which is designed to test, compare and manage income strategies over time.

The tool draws on more than 67 years of investment and inflation data to assess whether combinations of drawdowns, investment settings, Age Pension interactions and product overlays can deliver sustainable, CPI-linked income streams over 30 years or more. This starts from June 1959 and finishes in March 2026

Underpinning MyRI is ABCD IQ, a rules-based asset-liability management framework that aims to optimise income sustainability while managing sequencing, inflation and longevity risks.

Laughlin said the initiative was driven by the growing confusion retirees face in evaluating competing strategies and product claims.

"How does the average retiree know what is a sensible approach to follow? How can they tell what the actual benefits are, and if they are truly suited to their specific circumstances over a retirement period that could extend for 30 years or more," he said.

"I thought it would be useful to have a truly independent simple analysis tool that tests how well the different retirement solutions being proposed could actually work out in practice."

Laughlin served as deputy chair and a member of APRA between 2010 and 2015.

Bhana's background spans insurance, banking and superannuation, while Helenius, a veteran actuary and former investment banking executive.

Laughlin added: "We are looking to partner or engage with other like-minded individuals, superannuation funds and financial planners. Our aim is to democratise the benefits of MyRI, including testing a retirement plan, and comparing strategies, before committing and locking into any specific approach based solely on marketing, or unrealistic, simple projections that do not allow for real uncertainties in life."