Dear Members,
On behalf of Cbus, I sincerely apologise to members for the many delayed insurance claims over the last several years. These delays have added to the difficulties our members and their families endure at a sad and stressful time.
Over the last couple of years, we have worked to clear the backlog of claims. We have doubled the size of the case management team. We have retrained the contact centre staff, so they are more helpful when our members make claims. We have now resolved more than four out of five claims in the backlog. We have so far paid to affected beneficiaries $755 million in benefits. We are also paying compensation to beneficiaries for the delays.
In the last three years we have paid out 96.8% of insurance claims – a very high rate compared with others.
We will continue to improve to make the claims process easier, faster and clearer for our members and their families.
One of our regulators, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, has commenced a legal action against us in relation to the delayed claims issues. We will try and resolve this case without a long and costly legal battle. Cbus Trustee has reserves to meet legal penalties imposed on the trustee. No penalties will be paid directly from your member account.
In August this year another of our regulators, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, directed us to commission an independent review of how we select board directors, and how we manage payments to unions and employer groups made as part of our ‘industry partnership’ programs. With APRA’s agreement the review was conducted by a respected consultant, Deloitte, in October 2024. The Board has now accepted in principle all 26 recommendations in the report. You can read Deloitte’s report on our website.
I can report to you that the review found that all Directors on the Cbus board met the ‘fit and proper’ test at the date of the report.
It also recognised that industry partnerships are an important way for us to grow membership and awareness of what we offer members. These industry partnerships give us direct access to current and potential members who rely on us for their financial security, at work and in retirement.
By addressing the recommendations of the Deloitte report we are determined to strengthen Cbus to become a better, stronger fund for our members.
We are a highly regulated, major financial institution with a 40-year history of looking after members money. You, our members, have accumulated around $100 billion invested by Cbus. We have more than a hundred investment professionals focused on delivering you good returns – and succeeding. Our default Growth (MySuper) investment option is ranked as one of the top performing super funds over 10, 15 and 20 years. * Our recent growth has enabled us to reduce our weekly administration fee by a third.
I want to assure you that we are making the necessary improvements to continue as one of Australia’s leading superannuation funds.
We remain completely focused on listening to our members, understanding your needs and generating strong, long-term returns to help achieve the retirement you deserve.
Kristian Fok
CEO Cbus Super
*The Growth (MySuper) investment option obtained top quartile performance ranking over 10, 15 and 20 year periods from the SuperRatings FCRS SR50 Balanced (60-76) Index, for the period ending 31 October 2024.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Insurance is issued under a group policy with our insurer, TAL Life Limited ABN 70 050 109 450 AFSL 237848.
United Super Pty Ltd ABN 46 006 261 623 AFSL 233792 as Trustee for the Construction and Building Unions Superannuation Fund ABN 75 493 363 262 (Cbus and/or Cbus Super).