Yahoo Finance Australia’s biggest super fund announces major change
The CEO of AustralianSuper will step down later this year, ending a 15-year reign which saw the super fund become the biggest in the country.
Ian Silk will step down before 2022, after leading the fund since its inception on 1 July 2006, with chief risk officer Paul Schroder to step into the role.
The fund, which today holds more than $225 billion in funds under management, held just $21 billion when it first launched.
Around 2.4 million Australians now have their nest egg with AustralianSuper, and staff has grown from 50 to more than 1,000.
According to SuperRatings, AustralianSuper’s balanced fund is the strongest performer over the last five years, with 9.74 per cent in returns.
AustralianSuper chair Don Russell said Silk had delivered “incredible results” over his tenure, and said the board was deeply appreciative for his leadership.
"It has been an amazing privilege to work with my colleagues across the fund to deliver the best possible financial returns for the more than 2.4 million members who trust us with their retirement savings,” Silk said.
“I look back with huge pride on what the team at AustralianSuper has achieved.”
He said Schroder is “exceptionally well placed” to more than double AustralianSuper’s funds under management to $500 billion over the next five years.
“Paul has played a key role across the fund over the past decade in providing low cost insurance to members, building the fund’s brand and most recently embedding a leading risk culture at AustralianSuper,” Silk said.
AustralianSuper was formed after the Superannuation Trust of Australia and the Australian Retirement Fund merged in 2006.
In more recent years, Silk led the fund through the Royal Commission into financial services.
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