ABOUT REST
Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (Rest) is a major industry superannuation fund. Rest has $56 billion in assets and 1.85 million member accounts as of June 2020.
Rest offers a default MySuper product, the Core Strategy option, which holds $46.2 billion.
KEY FINDINGS
Rest should include nuclear weapons in the definition of controversial weapons, ensure all companies that derive revenue from nuclear weapons are excluded with a 0% revenue threshold, and divest from all current nuclear weapons holdings.
Rest should also explain why some nuclear weapons producers appear in the proxy voting record but not the overseas shares record.
Policy
Rest does not have an adequate policy on nuclear weapons.
Rest’s website states that controversial weapons are excluded from the whole fund, which could give a false impression that nuclear weapons are excluded. Rest relies on MSCI screens for controversial weapons, which do not include nuclear weapons.
Holdings
The holdings disclosure and shareholder voting records demonstrate investments in 8 nuclear weapons producers.
Rest confirmed in June 2021 that other investment options held 11 nuclear weapons producers.
Read our detailed assessment of Rest policy and practice in our 2021 report.