Plum awarded five apples from Chant West following year of growth

19 January 2010

For the sixth consecutive year, the Plum Superannuation Fund has been awarded five apples 'highest quality fund' rating in the medium corporate, large corporate and personal super plan categories by specialist superannuation research and consultancy firm, Chant West.

This rating comes at the end of a year of growth with more than 49,000 new members from five new corporate clients, representing an additional $1.7 billion in funds under administration.

Despite the tough economic climate last year, Plum has continued to improve services to members and upgraded its operational capabilities to create capacity for future growth.

Together with MLC Insurance, Plum has developed a life insurance policy, which for participating superannuation plans is provided at a lower cost and with improved terms and conditions compared with previous arrangements.

According to Plum's Managing Director, Scott Hartley, "providing members with high quality insurance benefits and helping them understand the importance of adequate insurance cover is essential given the level of under-insurance that exists in Australia. It's also a tangible way that Plum is remaining responsive to members' needs and helping them take control of their financial future".

While Plum continues to improve its member benefits, it also remains committed to investing in its operations through the ‘One Way, Same Way, Better Way’ program which increases quality and consistency, and creates the capacity to take on new business.

This program and other process re-engineering initiatives has delivered a reduction in transaction processing times, improvement in service standards and an automatic testing program for all system changes, among other improvements.

"With our automatic testing program, we are now able to test and process larger numbers of transactions simultaneously yet at the same time reduce the time and effort involved in managing these integral tests. Quality is critical for superannuation funds and with this improvement in our process capabilities, we’ve significantly reduced the likelihood of errors occurring.

"We are proud that Chant West has recognised these efforts and understand the significance of being rated a high quality fund in this research, which is made available so every Australian can make a fair and valid comparison of super funds," Mr Hartley said.