Key documents

Virgin Money Super Annual Member Outcomes Assessment:

1. MySuper
2. Choice Investments

Notice date: 1 November 2021

Nature of event or change:

There are upcoming changes that apply to Virgin Money Super customers. This includes changes to some asset allocations and tax rebates. The new arrangements come into effect on 1 December 2021.

Also, due to changes to the Insurance Contracts Act, the current ‘duty of disclosure’ for customers is changing. Your responsibilities under the new ‘duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation’ can be found below.

There’s nothing you need to do, but please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement you received when you first joined Virgin Money Super, together with any other customer materials you have received since, when considering how these changes apply to you.

1.  Asset allocation changes

We regularly review our investment options to take account of market conditions. As a result of the latest review LifeStage Tracker®, Enhanced Indexed Growth and Enhanced Indexed Conservative Growth options will have changes to their asset allocations from 1 December 2021. The updated ranges and Strategic Asset Allocations (SAA) are outlined in the Product Disclosure Statement.

SAA is the longer term target allocation for the relevant asset classes in which an investment option invests and reflects the type of option, investment objectives, risk profile and suggested time horizon.

2. Tax rebate changes

Virgin Money Super is a plan in the Retail Division of the Mercer Super Trust. Currently, the Mercer Super Trust receives a tax saving for deductible expenses (including administration fees) which it generally passes back to customers via a credit to their accounts, either as a dollar amount or an adjustment to the unit price.

From 1 December 2021 these tax savings, in relation to administration fees, will no longer be passed back to customers in this manner. They will instead be paid into a reserve and used for the benefit of all customers, including you as a Virgin Money Super customer, which may include payment of certain costs of the Mercer Super Trust.

By way of example, if a customer currently pays a dollar based administration fee of $10 per month, they receive a tax saving of 15% ($1.50) credited to their account monthly. From 1 December 2021 they will no longer receive the 15% tax saving on dollar based administration fees. The removal of the tax saving will also apply to any asset based administration fees paid by customers. The overall impact of this change on your account will be based on the administration fees applicable to your account.

The Mercer Super Trust will pay certain costs associated with product and strategic services, which are estimated to be up to 0.036% per annum of Mercer Super Trust assets.

3. Take Reasonable Care

Mercer Superannuation (Australia) Ltd (‘the trustee’) has entered into a life insurance contract with OnePath (‘the Insurer’), to provide insurance arrangements for you as a Virgin Money Super customer. You have a legal duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the trustee or to the Insurer.

A misrepresentation is a false answer, an answer that is only partially true, or an answer which does not fairly reflect the truth.

This duty also applies when extending or making changes to existing insurance, and reinstating insurance.

If you do not meet your duty

Not meeting your legal duty can have serious impacts on your insurance. Your cover could be voided (treated as if it never existed), or its terms may be changed. This may also result in a claim being declined or a benefit being reduced.

Please note that there may be circumstances where the trustee or the Insurer later investigates whether the information provided was true. For example, when a claim is made.

If they believe you have not met your duty, the trustee and/or the Insurer will explain their reasons, how to respond and provide further information, and what you can do if you disagree.

If you are a customer with Virgin Money Super and have questions regarding how these changes might affect your super please call the Customer Care Team on 1300 652 770.

Notice date: 23 February 2021

Nature of event or change:

As part of a regular review of our superannuation products and services, we have identified opportunities to improve retirement outcomes for our customers.

1. Changes to Lifestage Tracker investment option and Choice investment options - effective 1 April 2021

We have refined the objectives, investment details and asset allocations.

Changes to LifeStage Tracker glidepath from 1 April 2021.

On the current glidepath, as customers reach age 47, their exposure to growth assets decrease as they age. Following this year’s product review, we’ve decided to move this out to age 52. The changes are being made to allow for the fact people are living and working longer, so there is a need for their retirement products to reflect the evolving landscape. We believe this active approach to investing will lead to stronger retirement outcomes.

You can find details of changes to your asset allocation in the Investment Details document.

2.  Changes to Investment details

As part of the review process we refine the objectives of each investment option to ensure they align with current market conditions and provide the best possible outcomes for our customers.  Asset allocation ranges and targets for Virgin Money Super – the Life Stage Tracker paths and the Enhanced Indexed Options will be changing as of 1 April 2021.

You can find details of changes to your asset allocation in the Investment Details document.

3. Fee Changes to Indirect Cost Ratio (ICR)

Managing your super involves some indirect costs incurred by the underlying investment vehicles which Virgin Money Super invests in. These include some investment management and performance related fees, underlying investment vehicle expense allowances, net explicit transactional and operational costs and over-the-counter derivative costs. The Indirect Cost Ratio (ICR) for each investment option for the year ended 30 June 2020 are set out on page 19 of the 2020 Annual Report.

Changes to ICRs

Managing your super involves some indirect costs, such as investment management fees and operational costs. There have been some changes to how the ICRs are calculated. Effective from 1 July 2020, investment fees for direct property and infrastructure managers will now be included in the ICR, while property operating costs will no longer be included.

Based on these changes, we expect the ICR for each option to remain largely unchanged.

4. Eligible Rollover Fund closure

The government has announced that all Eligible Rollover Funds will close to new transfers from 1 May 2021. Under the proposed rules, super funds will be able to voluntarily transfer amounts to the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

Virgin Money Super customer’s super that would previously have been transferred to SuperTrace Eligible Rollover Fund will remain in Virgin Money Super until it can be transferred to the ATO.  Any insurance cover you have in Virgin Money Super will cease when your super is transferred. These changes have not yet been legislated, however when it does pass Virgin Money Super will move to implement the new rules as stated above.

If you are a customer with Virgin Money Super and have questions regarding how these changes might affect your super please call the Customer Care Team on 1300 652 770.

Notice date: 12 November 2019

Nature of event or change:

1. Reduction to your insurance premiums – effective 1 December 2019

We regularly complete a comprehensive review of the insurance arrangements offered through Virgin Money Super. Following the review of the insurance policies and premiums, OnePath Life Limited ABN 33 009 657 176 AFSL 238341 (OnePath) has been re-appointed as the insurer for Death, Total & Permanent Disablement (TPD) and Income Protection (IP) cover for another three years. Effective from 1 December 2019:

• Premiums for Death, TPD and IP cover will be decreasing. The premium rates are decreasing by about 21% for Death Only cover, 22% for Death & TPD cover and 20% for IP cover. The cost of insurance cover (if any) will continue to be deducted from your account balance at the end of each month.
• As a Virgin Money Super customer, if you hold insurance in your super account, there is no change to the way your insurance cover is calculated, and how the cost is paid.
  

Both the new and current insurance premiums can be found in Schedule A.

2. Changes to Lifestage Tracker investment option and Choice investment options - effective 1 January 2020

Virgin Money Super offers a range of investments, which have different investment styles or asset classes, including a LifeStage Tracker investment option and a range of Choice investment options.

The LifeStage Tracker investment option is an age path option based on the year of your birth. Each LifeStage Tracker age path aims to outperform the Consumer Price Index (CPI) by a certain percentage each year, for a certain time period.

Looking ahead, we believe economic growth will continue to be slow with investment returns generally expected to be lower than in recent years, particularly with respect to defensive investments such as fixed interest investments, which are sensitive to the low interest rate environment.

For this reason, to enhance the probability of the investment options meeting their investment objectives, effective from 1 January 2020 we will be:

• Increasing the growth allocation by 5% for all LifeStage Tracker age paths;
• Amending the investment objectives for a number of the LifeStage Tracker age paths; and
• Increasing the growth allocation by 5% for the Enhanced Index Growth and Enhanced Index Conservative Growth investment options.
  

You find details of changes to your asset allocation under the ‘Asset Allocation Table’ in Schedule B.

Full details of both of these changes are included in the Notice.

If you are a customer with Virgin Money Super and have questions regarding how these changes might affect your super please call the Customer Care Team on 1300 652 770.

Notice date: May 2019

Nature of event or change:

Protecting Your Super Package Significant Event Notice
From 1 July 2019, legislative changes known as the Protecting Your Superannuation Package will come into effect.

Impact of the change:

• No exit fee. From 1 July 2019 Virgin Money Super will no longer charge an exit fee when you withdraw funds from your super account.  This includes both full and partial withdrawals. This is across all funds, regardless of your account balance.
• Fees will be capped at 3% p.a for low balances. From 1 July 2019 for all super accounts with a balance below $6,000, there will be a cap of 3% p.a on administration and investment fees to maximise your savings in retirement. Virgin Money Super customers currently receive one of the lowest fees in the market.
• Insurance. On and after 1 July 2019, if a contribution has not been made to a super account for a continuous period of 16 months, and a person has not opted in to take out or maintain their insurance, the insurance benefits with the super fund will be ceased. 
• Inactive low-balance accounts. From 1 July 2019, customers with inactive low-balance accounts below $6,000 will have their account transferred to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). An inactive low-balance account is defined as customer who hasn’t made a contribution to a particular super fund account for 16 months or more, and has an account of $6,000 or less. There are some other activities outside of contributions that do stop a customer being considered inactive including nominating or changing a beneficiary or opting in to retain insurance cover. Once a customer’s super is transferred to the ATO they will then attempt to merge the inactive amounts in the active super account (if there is one, and if the total of the combined balance is greater than $6,000). If the ATO can’t combine the balance automatically, it will remain with them until it is claimed.

If you are a customer with Virgin Money Super and have questions regarding how these changes might affect your super please call the Customer Care Team on 1300 652 770.

These are the documents that govern Virgin Money Super.

The trust deed is a legal document that sets out the rules for establishing and operating Virgin Money Super. It includes things such as:

• Who can be a customer of Virgin Money Super
• The powers of the trustee
• Rules around how the fund will operate

These are important documents about the trustee including conflicts of interest policy, trustee remuneration and other important documents.

The documents the way in which the trustee is remunerated by Virgin Money Super to ensure full disclosure for our customers.