Cbus appoints head of advice following Advice Essentials Plus launch

Embattled super fund Cbus has appointed Matt King in what it called the “critical role” of head of advice.

King was previously head of financial advice at CareSuper, having also held the role at IOOF Holdings and MLC Australia.

“Matt is an outstanding appointment for us as we continue to focus on giving our members the best advice they can get throughout their working lives and retirement,” said Cbus Super deputy CEO and chief member officer Marianne Walker.

“Importantly, it has been acknowledged that members who get advice are better off and Matt will be leading our offerings to our members as we encourage all members to seek advice and plan ahead for their retirement.”

Cbus added that King would be responsible for ensuring that members “have access to advice that meets their needs and supports them to achieve their best possible retirement”.

According to the fund, there has been a 23 per cent increase in demand for personalised financial advice for retirement planning, reporting 19,929 conversations with members and 1,024 referrals to financial advisers in FY2023–24.

The appointment follows Cbus launching Advice Essentials Plus in October, a new service offering financial advice to both members and their partners.

The fund announced that the advice offering would charge $990 to Cbus members and their spouse or partner for access to “strategic financial advice” via the fund’s “internal financial experts”, even if the partner is not a fund member.

Walker explained at the time that many Cbus members retire as a couple and will rely on the Age Pension to supplement their income. However, until now, the fund’s advice services were restricted to individual members only.

“Following a survey of our members, it became clear that they wanted Cbus to provide this service because they trust their fund and the fees associated with utilising external financial planners were cost prohibitive,” she said.

“Most of our members retire as a couple and will rely on some degree of Age Pension to fund their retirement. Centrelink treat couples as a family unit but up until now, we’ve only been able to give advice to the Cbus member.

“We’re really pleased to have developed this offering to address that member need to expand basic advice to the household. It is a more realistic addressing of post-work life, of that intersection with Centrelink, and that a couple plans together for retirement.”

Last week, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched civil penalty proceedings against United Super, the trustee of Cbus, for failing to process over 10,000 claims for death and total permanent disability benefits in a timely manner, impacting more than 6,500 members.

The regulator alleged that the delays, which spanned more than 12 months for some claimants, resulted in an estimated $20 million in financial losses for members, with ASIC accusing the trustee of inadequate response and misleading reports regarding the ongoing issues.

In a statement issued by the fund, Cbus said it is “sorry” that delays have been experienced in the processing of insurance claims made by its members.

“Regrettably, this has added to the distress of members and their families,” the fund said.

“We apologise to our affected members and their families without reservation and promise to do better.”