The super fund award focuses on the experience of a typical member, that is, someone with an account balance of up to $50,000 in their employer’s default MySuper fund. It recognises excellence across a range of key criteria, namely: investments, member services, fees, insurance, administration and organisational strengths.

The pension fund award takes into account the same criteria (except insurance) but recognises that the pension phase of superannuation is very different. The award relates to the typical retiree member, who has an account balance of about $200,000. They have different priorities and place different demands on their funds compared with accumulation members, and our methodology reflects that.

Many Australians working for medium-sized and larger employers have their super with a corporate plan. There are about 20 funds, mainly master trusts, that cater for this sector.

This is a large and important segment of the industry, with assets of about $150 billion and about 4 million members. There are substantial economies of scale available, and we look at how these have been harnessed and applied in the best interests of members.

While most major funds have a broad spectrum of members, there are others, both large and small, that cater for a fairly homogeneous group – often from a single industry or occupation – that has unique or specialised needs. To satisfy those needs, these funds need to pay a lot of attention to their benefit design and members services.

To compete for this award, funds still have to score well in all the main criteria we consider. In addition, we take into account what they do that is specific to their membership and results in greater member engagement and better retirement outcomes.

Retail master trusts mostly target people who are more engaged with their super – so-called ‘choice members’ – who have different needs to the majority of default fund members. They generally have advisers and seek a wider range of investment choices and more ‘bells and whistles’ in the services the fund provides.

This award recognises funds that score well in our main criteria and have also invested in dedicated systems to help advisers manage their client base and access their client details.

While small in numbers, this is by far the most influential group in the industry in terms of their ability to influence member outcomes.

This award recognises those asset consultants who have provided outstanding service and, through their strategic thinking and research, have advanced the way funds invest.

Investments are the most important aspect of superannuation. Chant West assesses funds on their investment processes and resources and whether they are likely to deliver strong returns. The key issues are the quality of people and processes. We look closely at investment governance, including the investment experience of the Investment Committee and the internal investment team, and who is actually responsible for making decisions.

We continue to take a dim view of funds that simply increase the level of passive management in order to reduce costs. We think that is likely to be a false economy, and not in members’ best interests. We do recognise, however, that passive management may have a role to play, particularly where managers face capacity constraints and in those asset classes where it is very difficult to generate net alpha.

Member services are the second most important aspect of superannuation, because they have the ability to engage members and so help them make the most of their super.

This year we have placed particular emphasis on member statements. Do they identify whether the member has a retirement income gap and, if so, are there effective calls to action to encourage them to do something about it? We are also very interested in the robustness of funds’ retirement calculators, because after the member statement this is where they can best help members understand their retirement goals and whether or not they are on track to achieve them.

Insurance has become even more important over the past year or two, mainly because there have been sizeable increases in premiums as a result of a surge in disability claims. This has prompted many funds to review the structure of their insurance offering to see whether it really meets the needs of their membership.

Assessing a fund’s insurance offer is one of our most difficult tasks, because insurance is very complex and individual specific. Premiums vary according to age, gender, occupation and smoker status, meaning that there are about 1,000 individual situations to assess. We take all those situations into account when assessing premiums – and of course we also look at conditions and the appropriateness and sustainability of the benefit design.

Recognising innovation within the industry is a key theme of the awards. Last year the major focus was on MySuper, which had become fully operational in January 2014. This year the award is looking at innovation more generally. We have seen innovation in many areas, for example, in insurance offerings, retirement income solutions, account consolidation processes and member communications.

Investing in retirement, as opposed to investing for retirement, is one of the hottest topics in the superannuation industry. At present, there are only a handful of products that truly cater for retirees’ needs.

Chant West is keen to encourage funds to develop new and innovative products for retirees. We believe there needs to be more innovation and more lobbying of government to help make capital protected products and other longevity-aware products more viable.

Chant West’s integrity award recognises funds that are doing the right thing by their members.

One continuing focus is on disclosure. Despite considerable advances in the disclosure required by our regulators, we still see too many funds that are not as transparent as we would like them to be, especially about their fees and insurance premiums. Our award recognises funds that are doing the right thing by telling their members what they really need to know, in a way they can understand, and complying with the spirit as well as the letter of the law.

In the same way, we want to recognise funds that have done the right thing by their members in terms of their MySuper investment design. In the current climate, it would be all too easy to make changes just to reduce costs, so it takes some courage to stick with your investment beliefs and aim for the best net return, even if that involves incurring higher costs.