Aus Super IMUOE Class Action, page-51

I was also disappointed that Australian Super does not facilitate Options as a security on Member Direct. The Terms and Conditions are vague and devoid of any direct reference to the management of Options. They may have sold my attaching Options, which they have not passed on to me or they continue to hold them, in which case I may never receive any benefit.
I note from the reply I received from Australian Super (below) that the Trustee will sell down the Options and members will be paid a cash benefit when completed. There was no timeframe associated with this comment - presumably I will have to chase it until I lose the will to live.
In my view, the response that I received from the Complaints and Resolutions Team was unsatisfactory, and it is my intention to follow-up with the AFCA. The AFCA response will guide my view on whether a class action is a realistic option. GMT2 is spot on - the Australian Super Member Guide and Terms & Conditions should be reviewed and updated to be more transparent on the limitations associated with corporate actions. Slick's reference to tin pot platforms has some merit, I accept that the existing platform could be better - a lot better. But in this context, Australian Super is not a backstreet boiler house - it has 326 million members with $299B in assets and is in partnership with JP Morgan as Custodian. In my view, Australian Super offers a inferior platform, inadequate and outdated Terms & Conditions, bog standard 'one liners' from the Contact Centre and sub-standard 'cut & paste' responses from the Complaints Team. All in all, a very unprofessional and inadequate customer service experience from an organisation representing and influencing a significant number of current & retired members.

Australian Super Response:
We’re writing to you about your complaint received 11 October 2023 regarding the IMU holding - Share price plan (SPP) offer in your Member Direct account.

We understand, you are dissatisfied, with the response provided by our Contact Centre team regarding the IMU holdings SPP offer in your Members Direct account. The information provided to you was based on our Member Direct Terms and Conditions about the allocation rules are not applicable to members who elect on these corporate actions on Member Direct, because AustralianSuper is the legal holder of the shares via a custodian and therefore not a small shareholder. You can find this within our Member Direct: Terms & conditions:

‘2.13. All investments in the AustralianSuper Member Direct investment option, including listed securities, term deposit/s and cash will be registered in the name of JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited, as custodian, for AustralianSuper Pty Ltd as trustee of AustralianSuper. You must register for the site and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. You can only view and transact on investments held in the Member Direct investment option through the site.

We have further reviewed your concerns with other stakeholders and referred the issue to the broker (FNZ) and confirm, we are unable to facilitate the holding of complex assets such as options it can neither support the exercising options. The options are not a security that is available on Member Direct. Since options is not available for the members under Member Direct, the Trustee via the vendor and custodian will organise the selldown of these options and entitled members will be paid cash once completed.

Please note, the broadcast in the corporate action notes is based on company announcements. There are a number of reconciliation steps between the custodian and the broker to ensure that the corporate action is processed correctly. These steps may take additional time to complete and vary based on the corporate action.

We acknowledge the inconvenience and frustration caused due to this experience and appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback. Please be assured the Fund takes your feedback and concerns with the external stakeholders to provide an appropriate outcome for our members benefit wherever possible. For further help and information, we request you to please phone our Contact Centre on 1300 300 273 between 8am to 8pm AEST/AEDT weekdays and speak to one of our Member Direct team.

AustralianSuper thanks for your patience and co-operation during this process. As a member-based organisation, we are always striving to be better at what we do.

We trust that we have addressed your concerns however if you’re not satisfied with the outcome of this internal complaints process, you have the option of contacting the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) – an independent external dispute resolution scheme set up by the Federal Government to assist members and beneficiaries in resolving certain superannuation complaints. AFCA can be contacted at GPO Box 3 Melbourne VIC 3001, on 1800 931 678, online at www.afca.org.au or by email to [email protected]

Please note that the date of this email is our decision date, should you need to refer to this in the future. The reasons for the decision are outlined above.