I
am writing in response to recent claims published by Crikey.com.au over
the last week regarding so-called problems with Telstra Super’s new
member administration system developed with Financial Synergy, and
using its Acurity software. The claims made in these articles about
time delays, cost overruns and Board concerns are unfounded.

In particular, I’d like to point out the following:

There
is no crisis meeting of the Trustee Board being held next week. A full
and proper governance procedure is in place and the Board has been
provided with regular updates of the progression of the project since
commencement.

  • The project is not running 15 months late;
  • The project has not incurred a budget overrun of $2
    million, indeed the contract with Financial Synergy is a fixed price
    contract;
  • An active quality assurance program has been in place to ensure members’ records will not be compromised in any way;
  • Telstra Super has only had one resignation (in mid 2004) from an employee on the project team; and
  • Since inception of the project, Telstra Super has regularly communicated the project status to the industry regulator, APRA.

As
you can understand, the transition process for an administration system
of a super fund of our size is a major project. Telstra Super is
conducting this transition in the best interests of the fund and its
members.

Telstra Super is always happy to respond to media
queries and is available to verify any content for Crikey.com.au before
it is published to ensure future accuracy.