Super doesn't have to be 'boring', but innovation is key

Leaders at Aware Super, NGS Super, Rest and AMP have all pointed to slow moving systems as standing in the way of innovation while speaking at the AM Tech Day conference in Sydney.

AMP group executive, platforms Edwina Maloney said traditional thinking within Australia's finance sector has held back the ability to be nimble in an ever-advancing technological world.

"The thing that's really difficult in this space, when you're trying to innovate, you're trying to be market leading, you're trying to push the envelope, and then you get traditional compliance and risk teams saying, 'But what about privacy? What about cybersecurity?' which I think are all very relevant questions," Maloney said.

"But I think we're seeing this real clash in corporates of trying to move fast and embrace these new technologies and then the machine saying, 'hang on, you're going far too fast', and others who don't have that clash of culture are running faster."

Maloney said the industry needs to embrace new technology and not be afraid of making mistakes.

"I think trying to be nimble enough to stay ahead, experiment, innovate, try new things, push up against the boundaries, are all the things we need to be doing," she said.

Aware Super head of portfolio management Simon Warner said while it may feel like things are changing rapidly, Australia's processes are still slow on a global scale.

"We feel like we're moving quickly, but the world is moving way faster than we are, and it can feel daunting, but our point of view is that the road is getting longer so that we can drive faster," Warner said.

"There is a long way for us to go on this journey. But the message, I think, for everybody in other ecosystems, is that we would love help with how to navigate that."

Likewise, speaking on the same panel, Rest head of portfolio construction, external equities Chris Drew said the super fund has dedicated five years to trying to ensure it has the right capabilities.

"Part of that journey has been integrating the funds management business within Rest itself, building capabilities across the head and the technology, and ensuring we have the correct governance around that has been a huge piece of work," Drew said.

"We can make decisions in real time and yet really enabling the investment team to manage the assets properly. I think historically, that was more at arm's length with quarterly investment committee meetings and decisions being made with historical data."

Maloney added that while Australia's major financial firms are working towards catching up to other industries, there is still some way to go and the nature of who they are hiring has changed substantially.

"We have to look forward. This market is evolving so quickly, and it will look entirely different, and our workforce will look entirely different in five years' time. I'm bullish on it," Maloney said.

"I think we have to be very clever about the sort of people we're bringing in and the skills we're bringing in, and we're being much more deliberate about that."

NGS Super chief executive Natalie Previtera mirrored those thoughts, saying the fund's hiring practices are much more focused on data.

"When we are doing our recruitment, we are looking for people with capability around data, because it's just so important going forward," Previtera said.

"Interestingly, if I reflect on the transformation journey that we're on, we're going from a structure where very little is possible in terms of customisation and being able to produce things, to where everything is possible.

"So, the type of recruitment you need to do is quite different, and we're looking for people who are innovators, people who are prepared to experiment a little. Superannuation can be seen as really boring, like where innovation goes to die, but when you look under the hood, we've got really good people who are prepared to experiment and test the boundaries around what is possible."