AvSuper has selected Russell Investments to provide fund administration services to its 6,000 members. This is the first win for Russell's new in-house administration model, set to kick off on 1 January 2011.
"What really attracted us to Russell was their consultative approach – they recognise that not every super fund is the same and worked with us to customise a modern administration solution that is scaleable and tailored for our particular members' needs," said Michelle Griffiths chief executive officer at AvSuper.
"We were impressed with the extensive level of detail Russell presented about their administration model which clearly demonstrated their ability to support us in providing the highest level of personalised service to our members" she said. Russell is set to commence as fund administrator to AvSuper in early 2011.
The announcement follows Russell's earlier decision to strengthen its administration business in order to be able to better assist and engage fund members by bringing in-house over 75 roles previously outsourced to IBM. In addition, Russell is enhancing its existing global offshore capability to allow non member-facing activities to be carried out in the most accurate and cost-efficient way.
"The transition to our in-house administration model is going very well, and we are excited at the developments the new model offers our existing clients and the new business opportunities it presents us, like our new partnership with AvSuper." said Siva Sivakumaran, director, administration and consulting services at Russell.
"This is the first step in what we believe will be an attractive proposition for funds looking for an administration arrangement that's tailored to their specific needs," he said.
Russell's superannuation administration business provides services to over 220,000 individuals and includes contributions and benefit payment processing, insurance and claims management, choice of fund, financial reporting, online services, interactive voice response, call centre and financial advice.
"It is encouraging to have a fund like AvSuper choose our new administration model and confirms our efforts are on target," Mr Sivakumaran concluded.