FORWARD FOCUS INTIMES OF CHANGE Message from the Chair The stunning result for Cbus and its sustained outperformance over the long-term stems from its absolute focus on members. My mantra, from my position as the Chair over 12 years We invest smartly and responsibly. Our members with the Fund, has always been “Members’ interests first, expect this of us andwe demand higher standards second and third in all our decisions” and members can rest of sustainable approaches to environment, social and assured that that thinking is deeply ingrained in our culture. governance issues from our investments. 2021 is a stand-out year for returns, with members in our We hold ourselves to the highest standards of transparency. default option receiving the largest yearly return in the Fund’s That is why we continue to use the Integrated Reporting 37 year history of 19.34%. That is outstanding by any measure, Framework for our annual reporting to stakeholders. but it is the sustained returns over all of those 37 years that The Board acknowledges its responsibility for the content members are rightly proud of, with average annual returns and integrity of the Annual Integrated Report which is of 9.25% an average annual return. presented in accordance with the International Integrated The sole focus on member outcomes, with all profits Reporting Framework. The Board considered going to them and not shareholders, has meant that over an outline of the report at its August meeting and that period the Fund has proved resilient against external approved the report in full in October. factors beyond our control. After 12 years as Chair of Cbus, my term comes to an We have handled massive economic shocks such as the end in December 2021. It has been a privilege to serve global financial crisis, a once in hundred year pandemic members of the Fund and work alongside fellow Directors (recognising this is on-going), and major regulatory shifts that have an unswerving focus on members’ best interests. such as meeting the demands of the Early Release Scheme It has also been a pleasure to work with the CEO and assisting 135,489 members with $1.13 billion in payments this Executive Team who lead a dedicated group of some 607 financial year and still maintained strong, long-term returns. people. The commitment and skills that they bring to work Today, we are one of the largest industry funds by everyday to maximise member outcomes is impressive. membership with over 760,000 Australians trusting Cbus That commitment continues to be demonstrated in to invest their $65 billion in retirement savings. This scale their ability to keep producing great outcomes during is critical to our performance. the disruptions of the on-going COVID pandemic. It has allowed us to bring much of our investments and I would like to acknowledge my fellow Directors over member services in-house resulting in continued investment my time with the Fund and thank them for their important outperformance both in terms of returns and cost savings, contributions to date and wish them well for the future. whilst building and maintaining high levels of trust and I would also like to acknowledge the great job our new satisfaction amongst members and contributing employers. CEO Justin Arter has done in taking over the reins. We are focused on maintaining our performance for members The Australian superannuation system is one of the by continuing to respond strategically to our operating best pension systems in the world. Its key fundamentals environment. Regulatory change is driving consolidation of universality and compulsion have delivered success across the industry and it is our aim to ensure the people that in preserving significant savings for people’s retirement. build Australia reap the retirement benefits Cbus provides. Industry super funds, like Cbus, continue to outperform all sectors of the system because they are all-profit-to-2 Our merger with Media Super will be completed in 2022 and we welcome their members into our expanding family. members allowing them to act, without conflict, in members’ Because of our internalisation strategy we are strongly best interest. It has been great to be part of that and positioned to generate the best investment outcomes I leave knowing that members are in good hands. for Media Super members while sharing with them the strength of scale built by construction workers. We will not lose sight of our heritage nor our focus and affinity with construction and building workers. Rather, we will take this key strength and apply it similarly The Hon. Steve Bracks AC to all industries and people who build Australia. Fund Chair 12 Annual Integrated Report 2021