In announcing his firm would take control of Westpac’s $37.8 billion superannuation funds business, and re-home about 400 related bank employees, Mercer Australia chief executive David Bryant said the transaction reflects a “game-changer” for the retirement savings market.

“This shifts the paradigm for superannuation in Australia, and deliberately so,” Bryant told The Australian Financial Review. “The banks were very dominant. Then we’ve been through a phase when profit-for-member funds have been dominant. And then the question is: what’s the next evolution of this market?”