1. What differentiates Chant West’s awards from other awards?
We have limited information on what other organisations do, so it is difficult for us to comment on their awards or the research and methodology behind them.
What we can say is that our awards are based on 18 years of researching funds and conducting tenders for large corporates and, in that time, we and our methodology have been rigorously tested. We believe this adds considerable credibility to our views.
Award Categories
2. What are the award categories?
There are 12 categories:
| Super Fund of the Year | Best Fund: Investments |
| Pension Fund of the Year | Best Fund: Insurance |
| Specialist Fund of the Year | Best Fund: Member Services |
| Corporate Solutions Fund of the Year | Best Fund: Longevity Product | |
| Best Advised Product of the Year | Best Fund: Integrity Award |
| Asset Consultant of the Year | Best Fund: Innovation |
3. How many finalists will be chosen in each category?
There will be five finalists in most categories except Super and Pension Funds of the Year, Best Fund: Investments, Best Fund: Member Services, and Best Fund: Insurance which will all have 10 finalists.
Eligibility to be included in Awards
4. Does our fund have to apply to be included in the awards?
No. All of the funds we research – about 440 in total – are automatically included.
5. What information is used to assess each fund?
Our starting point is the information we have in our database. We will continue to monitor and review this information until the cut-off point for the 2015 awards, which is the end of March.
6. Our fund is not rated – are we in the awards?
All funds are candidates for the awards, where relevant. Clearly, we have much more information on the funds we rate versus those we don’t, so it is unlikely that unrated funds will feature in the awards.
Ratings & Award Methodology
7. What is your methodology for rating funds?
The main rating criteria and their weightings are shown in the table below:
| Rating Criteria and Weights |
|
Main Criteria | Super (%) | Pension (%) |
| Investments | 35 | 40 |
| Member services | 25 | 25 |
| Fees | 15 | 20 |
| Insurance | 10 | n.a. |
| Administration | 10 | 10 |
| Organisation | 5 | 5 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
8. Do you use any further methodology for the awards?
Our starting point is to use the scores from our ratings process. We will then apply a subjective overlay in selecting the finalists and winners. Our overlay will question and refine those scores based on our experience and knowledge of the funds. We will also be asking the finalists several questions about the future of their funds that will help us determine the winners.
9. Do you have any independents on the judging panel?
No. We don’t believe it is necessary as we are an independent firm and researching funds has been our core business for 18 years.
Marketing Opportunities for Funds
10. Will there be any marketing opportunities for the finalists and winners?
Funds can subscribe for a fee to our Promotional Licence to help promote their products through our awards logos. We offer a range of finalists and winners logos for each of the 12 awards categories. Combined with our ratings logos, it produces a strong marketing message for all communications. For more information on this service, please
contact us.
Awards Evening
11. How do I register to attend the awards?
You can register single tickets or tables of 10 at
www.chantwestawards.com.au| Awards Evening Details |
| Date: | Wednesday, 6 May 2015 |
| Time: | 6:30pm – 10:30pm |
| Location: | Ivy Ballroom, Level 1, 320 George Street, Sydney |