MTAA Super, a Melbourne-based superannuation fund with close to A$13 billion ($9.1 billion), and Tasplan, a Hobart, Tasmania-based fund with A$9.5 billion in retirement assets, are considering a merger and entered into a binding memorandum of understanding, representatives of the two funds confirmed.
Naomi Edwards, the chair of Tasplan, and John Brumby, the chair of MTAA Super, in a joint news release Friday, predicted that the increased scale made possible by a merger would "deliver efficiencies that can be passed on to members by way of product and service improvement, competitive fees and returns."
The combination of MTAA and Tasplan would create a national superannuation fund with more than A$22 billion and 328,000 members.
The MTAA-Tasplan announcement is the latest sign of accelerating industry consolidation following the release of separate Royal Commission and Productivity Commission reports at the start of the year which called for smaller super funds to seek economies of scale, via mergers, which could benefit their members through lower fees.
