Allianz Retire+ assembles retirement advisory panel

Allianz Retire+ has launched its new Retirement and Ageing Advisory Panel, with plans to identify and work on needs, trends and services across the institutional retirement and ageing sector. Its ultimate goal is improving retirement outcomes, with the initial focus to be on upcoming policy changes.

Fintan Thornton, actuary and head of institutional solutions at Allianz Retire+ will chair the panel. He was previously head of superannuation at Colonial First State as well as head of strategy and implementation and head of employee superannuation at CBA.

He has also worked as a consulting actuary for Willis Towers Watson and Russell Investments.

Deborah Ralston, Monash University fellow, member of the RBA payment systems board advisory and board director for the Connexus Institute, Kaplan, SuperEd and the SMSF Association has also been named as one of the founding members.

Previously, Ms Ralston was one of the three members on the panel for the Retirement Income Review.

Allianz Retire+ has also appointed Nicolette Rubinsztein, director for Zurich Australia, OnePath Insurance, UniSuper, SuperEd, Greenpeace Australia Pacific and SMSF software provider Class.

Ms Rubinsztein was president of the Actuaries Institute in 2019 and a director of the Association of Super Funds of Australia (ASFA) for eight years.

She previously held senior roles across CBA, Colonial First State, BT Financial Group and Towers Perrin.

Finally, Sally Evans, director for Allianz Retire+ and Rest, as well as the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission advisory committee and Oceania Healthcare is also on the panel.

Ms Evans’ previous roles include head of retirement at AMP, investment director at AMP Capital and director of Westpac Institutional Bank. She was a member of the government’s Aged Care Financing Authority from 2012 to 2015.

“This panel will bring together independent views to help explore the latest retirement trends and developments; enabling collaborative dialogue to really help drive innovation within the retirement sector,” Mr Thornton said.

The group has signalled intentions to invite more experts from the industry to represent wider sector needs, views and market intelligence and to look for growth opportunities.

“The panel will initially focus on upcoming policy reforms, specifically, advancing retirement strategy to meet the needs of Australians in retirement; and member retention,” Mr Thornton added.

“However, the charter is broad and all-encompassing, as we look to continue breaking ground on best-in-class retirement solutions for the Australian market.”

The new initiative has followed the launch of the Allianz Retire+ Institutional business in September last year.