Heron Advisor
Super services for financial planners, product issuers & their clients... 
SOS
Heron's unique outsourcing management system...
Heron Quality Star Ratings Announced for 2011/12
Released: 27 July, 2011
All major super & retirement products included in this assessment
Leading independent superannuation consultancy, The Heron Partnership has released its 2011/12 assessment of superannuation and retirement products, covering master trusts, industry funds and eligible rollover funds.
The assessment covered 259 products in total, including:
- 120 products classified as personal or retail (comprising 53 master trust products and 67 industry fund products).
- 38 master trust and industry fund products designed for the specialist corporate market.
- 84 pension products.
- 16 Eligible Rollover Funds.
The outcome of this assessment is the awarding by Heron of their highest general award of 5 Quality Stars to 57 personal/retail products, 26 corporate products, 44 pension products and 3 ERFs.
Heron has a numeric rating system and the products that achieve the highest numeric rating in each product classification receive Heron's Top Rated Product award for that classification.
Chris Butler, Managing Director of The Heron Partnership said, "We are delighted to announce that CareSuper has received the Top Rated Product award for Personal products, MLC Employer Super for Corporate products, AMP SignatureSuper Allocated Pension for Pension products and AUSfund for ERFs."
Heron's Top Rated Superannuation & Retirement Products for 2011/12
| Top Rated Personal Product | CareSuper |
|---|---|
| Top Rated Corporate Product | MLC Employer Super |
| Top Rated Pension Product | AMP SignatureSuper Allocated Pension |
| Top Rated Eligible Rollover Fund | Australia's Unclaimed Super Fund (AUSfund) |
"This is the eighth occasion that CareSuper has been crowned Top Rated Personal Product, whilst it is the first occasion that MLC Employer Super has secured this award for Corporate products. AMP SignatureSuper has received the top award for Pension products on four occasions and AUSfund has been voted Top ERF on six occasions," he said.
Based on The Heron Partnership's numeric rating system the Top 10 Personal/Retail Products comprise five industry fund products and five master trust products, whilst for Corporate products the top 10 comprise three industry fund products and seven commercial master trust products.
Of the superannuation products classified as Personal/Retail, 57 have been rated by Heron as "outstanding quality" and therefore awarded 5 Heron Quality Stars. In alphabetical order they are:
Outstanding Personal/Retail Superannuation Products
| AGEST | HOSTPLUS Executive |
| AMP Flexible Super | HOSTPLUS Personal Super Plan |
| Aon Master Trust - Personal Division | IOOF Portfolio Service Personal Superannuation |
| Aon Master Trust - Personal Super Essentials | Legal Super |
| Asgard Elements Super | Local Government Superannuation Scheme - Accumulation |
| Asgard eWRAP Super | Macquarie - Super Accumulator |
| Asset Super | Media Super - Employer Sponsored Account |
| AustralianSuper Finsuper Division | Media Super - Personal Account |
| AustralianSuper Personal | MLC MasterKey Super |
| AustralianSuper Workplace | MLC MasterKey Super Fundamentals |
| AXA Summit - Personal Super | MLC Navigator Retirement Plan |
| BT SuperWrap Personal Super Plan | MLC Wrap Super - Superannuation Service |
| BUSS(Q) Premium Choice | netwealth Super Wrap - Employer Sponsored Super |
| BUSS(Q) Flexible Choice Employer Sponsored | netwealth Super Wrap - Personal Super |
| CareSuper | Non Government Schools Super |
| CareSuper - Personal Plan | OnePath OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super |
| Catholic Superannuation Fund | OnePath OneAnswer Personal Super |
| Colonial First State FirstChoice Personal Super | Plum Superannuation Fund - Personal Division |
| Colonial First State FirstChoice Wholesale Personal Super | Pursuit Select Personal Superannuation |
| Energy Industries Superannuation Scheme - Accumulation | REI Super Elite |
| Equipsuper - Personal | REST |
| Equity Super Freedom of Choice - Personal Super | REST Personal Superannuation |
| First State Super | Spectrum Super - Personal Division |
| FSP Super Fund | Strategy Retirement Fund |
| FuturePlus Super | Sunsuper Solutions |
| Government Employees Superannuation Board (GESB Super) | Tasplan |
| Health Super | Telstra Super - Personal Plus |
| HESTA | WA Local Government Super Solutions - Employer |
| HOSTPLUS | WA Local Government Super Solutions - Personal |
The 26 Corporate superannuation products rated as "outstanding quality" and awarded 5 Heron Quality Stars are (in alphabetical order), as follows.
Outstanding Corporate Superannuation Products
| AMP CustomSuper | Equity Super Freedom of Choice - Business Super |
| AMP - Flexible Super - Employer | Equity Super Freedom of Choice - Corporate Super |
| AMP SignatureSuper | Mercer SmartSuper |
| ANZ Super Advantage | Mercer SuperTrust |
| Aon Master Trust | MLC Employer Super |
| Asgard Employee Super | MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| AustralianSuper Corporate | OnePath Corporate Super |
| AustralianSuper Corporate Solutions | OnePath Integra Super |
| BT Business Super | Plum Superannuation Fund |
| BT Lifetime Super - Employer Plan | REST Acumen |
| CareSuper - Corporate Super | Russell SuperSolution Master Trust - Employer Division |
| Colonial First State FirstChoice Employer Super | Spectrum Super |
| Equipsuper - Corporate | Sunsuper Corporate |
The assessment of retail and corporate superannuation products undertaken by Heron covers about 130 key product features that are grouped under 5 Areas of Importance: Investment Arrangements; Insurance; Contributions; Ancillary Benefits; and Communications. Investments and Insurance have the greatest impact on a product's score with respective weightings of 55% and 30%.
The 44 Pension products rated as "outstanding quality" and therefore awarded 5 Heron Quality Stars are (in alphabetical order), as follows. Of these products, 24 are classified as "commercial" products and 20 as "industry fund" products.
Outstanding Pension Products
| AGEST - Allocated Pension | HOSTPLUS Pension Plan |
| AMP Flexible Lifetime Allocated Pension Plan | Intrust Super Stream |
| AMP SignatureSuper Allocated Pension | IOOF Portfolio Service Allocated Pension |
| Aon Allocated Pension Plan | LegalSuper Pension |
| Asgard Elements Pension | Makeachoice Superannuation Master Trust - Allocated Pension Division |
| Asgard eWRAP Pension | media super |
| AustralianSuper Pension | Mercer Super Trust - Allocated Pension Division |
| AXA Summit Personal Pension | MLC MasterKey Pension |
| BT SuperWrap Pension Plan | MLC MasterKey Pension Fundamentals |
| BUSS (Q) Pension | MLC Navigator Retirement Plan Pension Service |
| CareSuper Pension | Netwealth Income Stream |
| CBUS Super Income Stream | NGS Super Account Based Pension |
| Catholic Super Pension Plan | OnePath OneAnswer Pension |
| Colonial First State - FirstChoice Pension | OnePath OneAnswer Frontier Pension |
| Colonial First State - FirstChoice Wholesale Pension | Pursuit Select Allocated Pension |
| Equipsuper Account Based Income Streams | REST Pension |
| First State Super Income Stream | Russell Private Active Pension |
| Freedom of Choice Personal Allocated Pension Plan | Spectrum Pension |
| FSP Pension Service | Strategy Allocated Pension |
| FuturePlus Super Account-Based Pension Plan | Sunsuper Pension |
| Health Super Pensions | TasPension |
| HESTA Super Income Stream | Vision Super Income Stream |
In assessing pension products, Heron reviewed each product's investment arrangements, pension payment frequency, payment methods, options available in respect to the nomination of beneficiaries, options for payment of a death benefit, communication events with members including ease of access for members to obtain information and any ancillary benefits offered. The main focus is on investment arrangements.
The 3 Eligible Rollover Funds rated as "outstanding quality" and awarded 5 Heron Quality Stars are (in alphabetical order), as follows.
Outstanding Eligible Rollover Funds
| Australia's Unclaimed Super Fund (AUSfund) |
| ISPF ERF |
| SuperTrace |
The 4 "Areas of Importance" taken into account when Heron assesses ERFs are Organisation, Impact of Fees, Investments and Relocation Activity. All core elements of an ERF.
When releasing the ratings for 2011/12, Mr Butler, said "The primary goal of our Heron Quality Star Ratings is to provide a realistic and objective representation of the strengths and weaknesses of a product. Our ratings are based on feature specific benchmarks which guide Heron's assessors to rate the feature objectively. All products are therefore rated on the exact same basis. The ratings for each feature are aggregated to an overall numeric rating for each product".
The Heron Partnership's product research and assessments are provided through their Heron Advisor internet based research service. This research service is utilised by product issuers, dealer groups and financial planners as a superannuation research tool, for superannuation advice and corporate super tenders.
The Heron Quality Star Ratings have 5 levels as follows:
| Rating | Definition |
|---|---|
| 5 Stars | Outstanding - this is an outstanding product with a great depth of features and hence flexibility |
| 4 Stars | Commendable - these products are commendable and offer a good range of options and some flexibility |
| 3 Stars | Good - these funds are basic in their offerings |
| 2 Stars | Poor |
| 1 Star | Unacceptable |
Details of the Heron Quality Star Ratings, including the assessment methodology and products awarded with 5 Heron Quality Stars, are featured on The Heron Partnership's web site.