EQUIP hires head of retirement

Equip has hired Sam Higgie to lead the expansion of the industry fund's retirement offering.

Higgie has been with Equip for three years and was promoted to head of retirement from product strategy consultant.

Before joining the industry fund, he worked at DST Systems a platform provider as a head of product management for the APAC region.

Higgie has also held roles at Colonial First State, Citadel Wealth Solutions, and New Zealand-based financial planner, True North Investments.

Equip manages over $30 billion in assets for over 140,000 members across Equip and Catholic Super of which 22 percent of funds under management and nearly 10 percent of members are currently in the drawdown phase.

The superannuation fund's chief executive Scott Cameron said Higgie's appointment reinforces the fund's commitment to optimising the retirement outcomes of the fund's pension members, as well as the pool of members that will transition to retirement in the coming years.

"Helping our members have the best retirement possible is the reason we do what we do," he said.

"In his role, Sam will assist us in continuing to grow and develop our offer to help our members get the most out of their retirement with a fund they can trust."

Higgie said: "Retirement can take some planning, so we're always on the lookout for ways to keep it simple for our members and support them with products and services that help them have the retirement they deserve."

With 3.9 million retired Australians and with more than 130,000 Australians expected to reach retirement age each year over the next seven years,  Equip said it is well-placed to provide retirement services to a growing number of Australians over the coming years.

Higgie's promotion follows the recent appointment of Andrew Howard as chief investment officer, joining from Hostplus.