Future Fund chief says staff departure not at 'worrying level'

Future Fund chief executive Raphael Arndt said the current turnover running rate of around 6% in the senior investment team has not reached a "worrying level".

Arndt was speaking at a Senate Estimates Committee hearing yesterday about the rise in turnover at the sovereign wealth fund recently.

"We tend to have people who join, stay for some period, develop their career and then go off, very often to other private sector roles," he said.

"We see that as part of a natural evolution of highly skilled investment people who choose to work in the public service for a period of their career."

Arndt added the Future Fund has a good tenure and low turnover compared to the industry, averaging at 6%, while the overall turnover rate stands at 11%.

Future Fund recently announced the appointment of its new chief investment officer Richard Brandweiner who would take the reigns from interim chief investment officer Hugh Murray in July.

Murray has been handling the top job since September last year after Ben Samild left the role to take up a role with a major institutional investor in the Middle East. There are speculations he stepped down from the role after two years due to tension between himself and Arndt.

Arndt addressed concerns on the time taken to make the appointment and said, "it is not unusual for a senior role like this to take a while".

The sovereign wealth fund commented last month on allegations Arndt's leadership style may be forcing staff out the door, stating the departures were not irregular, particularly in a competitive environment.

It also said it will cut costs by $10 to $15 million in FY27, in a bid to ensure expenses and staffing levels remain appropriate for the years ahead.

There are multiple internal workplace investigations currently ongoing at the Future Fund costing it a total of $300,000 on external contracts to probe the matters.

While deferring to provide the specific allegations in these probes, Arndt maintained he is satisfied that there are no material irregularities in Future Fund's procurement processes.