Governance

As the Trustee of the Fund, United Super Pty Ltd holds:

A Registrable Superannuation Entity (RSE) licence from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
An Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) issued by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
Indemnity insurance to protect, within limits, the Trustee from legal action.

The primary source of the Trustee’s power are the Trust Deed (Governing Rules) of the Fund and the Company’s Articles of Association (Constitution).

These documents set out the rules for running the Fund including how Directors are appointed and removed.

Read our  Trust Deed (PDF)
Read our  Constitution (PDF)

Fund Governance Framework

The Fund Governance Framework informs our day-to-day decision making.

The framework details the activities and responsibilities of our oversight and decision-making forums, such as the Board and its Committees. It also includes key policies and procedures to guide the Trustee on how the Fund is to be managed.

With guidance from our regulators, our policies are developed in line with industry best practice.

These policies and procedures come together under the Fund Governance Policy, which provides guidance to stakeholders on the integrity of the Fund’s operations.

The Fund Governance Policy is reviewed by the Board at least once a year or as required.

AIST Governance Code

The following sets out the Trustee’s report on compliance with the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) Governance Code requirements for the period ending 30 June 2021.

Read the  AIST governance code report (PDF).

Annual Member Outcomes Assessment

Financial Year ending 30 June 2024

Media Super is a set of products offered by United Super Pty Ltd as Trustee for the Construction and Building Unions Superannuation Fund (Cbus, Cbus Super and/or Media Super).

Each year, Cbus is required to assess the performance of our MySuper and Choice products to ensure we are promoting the financial interests of our members. We assess a number of factors including fees, performance, investment risk, services, scale and operating costs.

We use public data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to compare the performance of our MySuper investment option with other default options in the industry, and for our Choice products, we benchmark performance with other comparable products using APRA, Super Ratings¹ and Chant West² data.

Cbus has determined that each of our super products promote the best financial interests of our members.

To read more about how Cbus performed, take a look at our latest Annual Member Outcomes Assessment (PDF) for the 2024 financial year.

¹Data sourced from SuperRatings. Refer FY24 Cbus Annual Member Outcomes Assessment for more details.
²Data sourced from Chant West. Refer FY24 Cbus Annual Member Outcomes Assessment for more details.

Register of relevant duties and relevant interests

The Trustee maintains a register of relevant duties and interests for itself, its responsible persons and associates, which includes:

All Directors of the Trustee
Company Secretary of the Trustee
All Executive Managers of the Trustee
External fund auditor
Cbus Property Pty Ltd, its Directors and officers.

This Register captures all external interests and appointments held by our Responsible Persons and Associates, providing transparency of their commercial and personal interests to our members and stakeholders.

Duties and interests will be disclosed in the register for as long as the Trustee, Responsible or Person has the relevant duty or interest. All gifts received by Directors and the Trustee above $500 in value will be included in the register for 24 months.

Read our  Register of Relevant Duties and Relevant Interests (PDF).

Code of Conduct

We have a Code of Conduct Policy that sets out our values, culture and expected standards of behaviour to deliver great outcomes for our members.

Read our  Code of Conduct Policy (PDF).

Conflicts Management

The Trustee has a conflicts management framework which applies across the entire Fund. The framework is a combination of systems, processes, policies and controls which enable the Trustee to identify, assess, mitigate, manage and monitor conflicts.

Read our  Conflicts Management Policy (PDF).

Whistleblower Policy

We are committed to the highest standards of values and conduct. Our Whistleblower Policy provides information on how to disclose concerns regarding illegal, unethical, or improper conduct, including who is eligible to make a disclosure and how eligible Whistleblowers are to be protected.

Read our Whistleblower Policy (PDF).

Board and Committee Skills Matrix

The Board has collectively identified the series of skills required on the Board to ensure it can effectively set and execute the Trustee’s strategy.

These skills have been captured in our Skills Matrix and the results of the Directors self-assessment is below.

Skills with this symbol  [ — ] prefixing it are required only at a Committee level, these skills are more technical and are required to ensure the Committee can effectively discharge its delegated duties from the Board, all other skills are required at the Board level. The boxes that are shaded in grey indicate that those skills are not relevant for that particular Committee.

The Directors are required to assess their skills against the Skills Matrix upon appointment and annually as part of the Fit and Proper process.

The Skills Matrix will be reviewed annually by the Board to ensure the skills remain relevant.

Board Performance

The Director Appointment, Performance and Renewal Policy sets out procedures with regard to annually evaluating the Board performance and individual director performance.

In accordance with the Director Appointment, Performance and Renewal Policy, the Company Secretariat is responsible for ensuring that the Board performance assessment (individual and collective) takes place annually. Regular assessment of Board performance supports:

Improving the effectiveness of the Board to achieve objectives
Identifying any areas for improvement
Clarifying individual and group roles.

The assessment encompasses the Board as a whole, Board Committees, individual Directors, Committee Chairs and the Board Chair. A record of the assessment is maintained by the Company Secretariat.

Triennial independent performance reviews of the Board, Directors and Fund Chair occur every three years. Every three years, the Company Secretariat will arrange for the annual, ‘whole of board’ performance assessment to be completed by an external specialist. The external specialist will obtain whole of Board feedback and, to assist in ongoing annual assessments of the Chair's performance and effectiveness, provide this feedback to both the Chair and to the other Directors.

Product dashboard

The superannuation product dashboard is set out to help you better understand the fees, risks and performance for our default investment option, Growth ( MySuper).

You can use the dashboard to compare the Growth (MySuper) investment option with MySuper products offered by other funds.

See our  product dashboard.

Remuneration

Our remuneration policies and practices reflect our core values, placing our members at the centre of all we do.

The way we resource the Trustee provides quality products and services to our members.

You can read more about the remuneration of our Directors and Executives in the Fund's Annual Financial Report below:

FY24 Annual Financial Report is now available* (PDF)

^{*FY24 Annual Financial Report includes our Directors’ Report and Remuneration Report (audited).}