Who manages your money

All investments are made in accordance with the Board's investment goals, the Borrowing and Investment Powers Act 1987 and the Victorian Treasurer's Prudential Statement investment guidelines.

Investment responsibilities for the defined benefit assets were transferred to the Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC) on 1 July 2006. The Board retains investment responsibilities for the accumulation assets and is responsible for setting investment objectives for both the accumulation and defined benefit assets.

Defined Benefit Assets

For defined benefit assets, the Board has a framework for setting investment objectives which involves an external advisor and VFMC. The Fund's Chief Executive Officer manages this relationship and, aided by the internal investment team, reports to the Board throughout the year. VFMC presents to the Investment Committee quarterly on the progress of each manager's performance against agreed goals.

Accumulation Assets

ESSSuper manages the investments in our accumulation funds and employs an internal Investments team supported by specialist service providers.

Frontier, an asset/investment consulting firm, has been appointed to provide strategic investment advice to the Board and Investment Committee, and to assist the Internal Investments Team in its ongoing monitoring of investment managers and risks.

External specialist investment managers (Investment Managers) are contracted to manage ESSSuper's investments in line with the guidelines set by the Investment Committee. The performance for individual Investment Managers, asset classes and products are measured against agreed performance benchmarks and monitored and reported to the Investment Committee and Board.

Investment Managers are selected by the Investment Committee, having regard to advice from Frontier and ESSSuper's Internal Investments Team.

ESSSuper's Internal Investments Team:

• provides a consolidated report to the Investment Committee on the performance of Investment Managers, asset classes and products compared against agreed benchmarks on a quarterly basis
• reviews external investment advice and makes recommendations to the Investment Committee and Board on the suitability of strategic investment advice for our members
• is responsible for the implementation of Investment Committee and Board investment decisions
• manages the allocation of assets and other regular investment processes
• manages the investment governance process on behalf of the Board (which includes the management of ESSSuper's responsibilities as a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment)
• under limited powers of delegation, may make changes to asset allocations to manage risk or take advantage of opportunities in investment markets.