The Crescent Wealth Super Fund will transfer its members to a new vehicle, Salaam Super, which has plans to offer a range of superannuation and pension plans, SMSF property finance and home and asset lending.
Salaam managing director Professor Talal Yassine said the new offerings, which will also include a Hajj savings fund, an educational fund for school and a Janazah (funeral) fund, will be Shariah-compliant and available from 1 June.
Further the transfer will see Crescent Wealth’s team of Islamic finance and wealth management specialists join the new operation.
“Our aim with Salaam’s new superannuation offerings is to empower our existing and future members to achieve their financial goals, while adhering to Islamic principles of ethics and fairness, through three new superannuation products, a pension product and a home-finance offering,” Yassine said.
“We will be a focused player where size and scale are used to our advantage and we will increase our community education and engagement through not-for-profit sister entities, Salaam Institute and Salaam Foundation.”
The changes follow a review by Equity Trustees, the trustee for the Crescent Wealth Super Fund, after which it decided to transfer the members and benefits of the fund to the Salaam superannuation division of the Russell Investments Master Trust via a successor fund transfer on 1 June.
The review, which Equity Trustees released as a member outcomes assessment in March, found “the fees and costs that affect the return to members are not appropriate having regard to their financial interests” and “net returns for the product are not consistent with market rates”.
