BT Super and Mercer Super merger guide

The BT Super Trustee engaged broadly across the industry and after a robust and competitive process believes this merger will create a larger superannuation fund with the potential to deliver stronger performance, lower fees and broader member services. 

The Trustee undertook a robust and competitive process, to find the right future partner who shares our passion to help members have the best possible retirement.

Mercer Super Trust has been operating for over 25 years and has more than 280,000 members. The merger will increase the scale of Mercer Super Trust to become one of the 15 largest super funds in Australia^{^^} – creating more opportunities that’ll benefit members.

We’re pleased that like BT Super, Mercer is focused on its members and people. Mercer’s core business is superannuation, and they are keen to invest and provide better outcomes for members and our people.

Your Trustee is confident that the terms agreed on will enable both parties to execute the merger, our members to retain their benefits and performance objectives for their investments, and suitable outcomes will be made available for our people.

This an­nounce­ment only af­fects you if you have a BT Su­per, BT Su­per for Life, BT Super for Life – Retirement, BT Super for Life – Transition to Retirement or BT Su­per for Life – West­pac Group Plan ac­count.

All other BT ac­counts are not af­fected by the in­ten­tion to merge with Mer­cer Su­per.

BT Su­per has en­tered into an agree­ment with the in­ten­tion to merge into Mer­cer Su­per on or around 1 April 2023. These dates are subject to change. Please bookmark this page for updates.

Most members will pay lower fees and costs following the transfer to Mercer Super. This in­cludes the re­moval of the dol­lar-based ad­min­is­tra­tion fee and re­duced per­cent­age-based ad­min­is­tra­tion and in­vest­ment fees. There will be no fees incurred to transfer your account balance to Mercer Super. 

Mer­cer Su­per has a range of in­vest­ment op­tions avail­able to mem­bers. Your account balance will be transferred to an equivalent or similar investment option(s) in Mercer Super.

AIA Aus­tralia Lim­ited (AIA) con­tin­ues to be the group in­surer for in­sur­ance cover pro­vided through BT Su­per and BT Su­per for Life (in­clud­ing West­pac Group Plan) ac­counts.

Fol­low­ing the merger, your in­sur­ance will still be provided by AIA and your in­sur­ance arrange­ments (such as in­sur­ance cover and costs) will -re­main the same and- con­tinue in Mer­cer Su­per.  -Trust un­til the end of the cur­rent rate guar­an­tee pe­riod (which is 30 June 2023).-

Un­til the merger, please con­tinue to call us if you wish to ap­ply for or change your in­sur­ance cover or should you need to claim on the in­sur­ance cover in your su­per ac­count.

No – Mercer Super Trust has offered to meet one-off costs associated with the Successor Funds Transfer for BT Super members.

You will receive your new online access details for your Mercer Super account after the transfer is completed.

Mercer has a dedicated member online portal and the Mercer Super app, allowing you to manage your super online, including:

• Checking your account balance, account activity, and download statements;
• Updating your investment options online;
• Reviewing your insurance cover (if available);
• Checking beneficiaries and updating or making a beneficiary nomination online;
• Consolidating any other super (including lost super) online;
• Estimating your retirement income using an online tool.

We will send you a Sig­nif­i­cant Event No­tice out­lin­ing all the changes for your su­per ac­count be­fore your su­per is trans­ferred to the Mer­cer Su­per Trust in February 2023.

Your De­fined Ben­e­fit ac­count will be trans­ferred to Mer­cer Su­per Trust in the first half of on or around 1 April 2023.

Please be as­sured that your de­fined ben­e­fit arrange­ments will not be changed.

Re­tain­ing your de­fined ben­e­fits is a re­quire­ment of the trans­fer to Mer­cer. Af­ter the trans­fer into Mer­cer Su­per, your de­fined ben­e­fits will be pro­vided from the Mer­cer Su­per Trust which is over­seen by their Trustee, Mer­cer Su­per­an­nu­a­tion (Aus­tralia) Lim­ited (MSAL).

You might also consider seeking financial advice from a professional financial adviser if you think this would be appropriate. If you don’t have a financial adviser, you can refer to the government’s website at moneysmart.gov.au (then click on >Tools and resources > Choosing a financial adviser) to find out more about choosing a financial adviser.

Westpac entered into an agreement to sell its Advance Asset Management business (Advance) to Mercer Australia.

The sale is of Advance, a multi-manager investment business which provides specialist funds management services and products, including for certain investment options available through BT Super’s personal and corporate superannuation funds.

The sale of Advance will add additional asset management capability for Mercer that will leverage Mercers’ global manager research reach, and the scale and expertise as one of the largest multi manager businesses in the world.