Former ASIC chairman James Shipton gets AFL legend James Hird’s backing for superannuation trustee tilt
Super Trustees Australia is preparing for a tilt at the retirement sector offering James Shipton as its talisman. The independent trustee backed by a James Hird firm wants underperforming funds to sign up.
A former boss of the corporate cop, James Shipton, has joined the superannuation sector as a trustee for hire with the financial backing of Essendon legend James Hird’s investment company.
Super Trustees Australia, funded by Mr Hird’s Coolum Capital, recruited Mr Shipton as its independent chairman. Mr Shipton chaired the Australian Securities & Investments Commission for three years until 2021, and joins a board of industry veterans including the former head of APRA’s superannuation division, Stephen Glenfield.
Trustees are a source of greater scrutiny within the superannuation food chain. They are appointed and manage all aspects of a fund including key decisions such as selecting the investment managers and ensuring the scheme meets its legal and regulatory requirements.
Mr Shipton, who is also a fellow at Melbourne Law School, said the sector needed better governance and independence from its trustees, as highlighted by the Shield and First Guardian scheme collapses which put $1bn of Australian retirement savings at risk.
He said there was alignment between his past regulatory role and Super Trustees Australia,
an opportunity to “really bring a meaningful improvement to the standards of governance”.
“I’ve seen the fault lines in the sector for a long time,” Mr Shipton said. “Having a member-centric approach is absolutely vital.”
At ASIC’s annual forum last week, head of the prudential regulator John Lonsdale said super was set to become the largest part of the financial system, crowding out the banks.
But Mr Shipton is concerned the member-centric elements of the super sector had been lost.
“We have to be stewards for members’ best financial interest through bringing the regulator lens,” he said.
Mr Shipton ascribed blame for the “dilution” of best interests to super funds becoming businesses in their own right and bringing investment management in-house.
“We want to get back to basics and provide a trustee only offering, not complicated by being a part of a broader group. We want to be plain vanilla,” he said.
Mr Shipton will sit on the board alongside former KPMG partner Mitchell Petrie, Mr Glenfield, and CCSL and Corporate Super Association founder Nick Brookes. They are joined by former APRA staffer Natasha Quirk as company secretary.
Mr Shipton identified a need for “form over substance” from trustees in super. He said this was best demonstrated with compliance and adherence to members’ best interests, rather than the “tick a box exercise” he observed in the industry.
Mr Brookes, who will manage Super Trustees Australia, said the industry has been remade as several funds merged amid pressure from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority over returns and fees.
He said the concentration of funds risked the concentration of management and the loss of identity of members alongside a rise in conflicts of interest.
Mr Brookes agreed there were “some very good funds”, but in others the move to bring services in-house delivered poor outcomes for members.
ASIC has taken aim at Cbus and AustralianSuper this year over their claims handling practices, warning super has been too focused on returns at the expense of duties to members.
Super Trustees Australia is making a pitch to other funds, where members are seeking to swap out trustees, and Mr Brookes confirmed the firm was already in “advanced due diligence with several prospective funds”.
It could take on a $7bn client in 2026, subject to diligence.
Super Trustees Australia was conceived from the shell of a rolled-off scheme previously part of Brighter Super. Mr Hird’s Coolum Capital has provided enough financial runway for almost two years.
The former Essendon captain also heads up Euree Asset Management, having sold a $5m stake in the fund manager to ASX-listed Sequoia Financial Group in 2023.
Two Euree funds were recipients of cash from investors in Shield and First Guardian. Euree has said all redemption requests were honoured.
ASIC launched legal action last week against financial advice licensee Interprac, owned by Sequoia, alleging inadequate oversight of advisers, poor processes, and failures to respond to serious issues around the advice provided to clients.
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Originally published as Former ASIC chairman James Shipton gets AFL legend James Hird’s backing for superannuation trustee tilt
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