Colonial First State to introduce its largest-ever expansion
of retirement solutions with Challenger, Generation Life
and BlackRock

CFS will integrate innovative retirement income solutions (IRIS) and the full suite of annuity capabilities from Challenger directly across all CFS platforms. It will also integrate Generation Life’s investment linked IRIS onto FirstChoice and investment bonds onto FirstChoice and CFS Edge, providing a tax-efficient alternative as Australia’s investment and retirement tax landscape continues to evolve.

The new whole-of-life offering will bring together a comprehensive range of retirement solutions in a single environment, making it easier for advisers to deliver whole‑of‑portfolio advice across wealth management, income and estate planning.

The adviser experience will also be supported by new integrated retirement modelling capabilities that draw on multiple data sources to enable more tailored retirement outcomes and greater efficiency via straight-through processing.

The rollout of new solutions begins from August with the introduction of the Retirement Income Optimiser on the FirstChoice platform, a new feature designed to optimise retirement income, as well as a Pension Bonus feature for eligible CFS members. Further solutions will be introduced progressively over the next twelve months.

CFS’s expanded partnership with Australia’s largest annuity provider, Challenger, builds on a relationship of more than 30 years, with this next phase fully integrating Challenger’s complete product range – including newly launching IRIS guaranteed and market-linked pensions alongside fixed term, lifetime income and aged care solutions.

The alliance with Generation Life brings together its retirement expertise with BlackRock’s global investment and retirement capabilities. CFS members will also benefit from BlackRock’s experience delivering LifePath Paycheck in the US – an integrated target date strategy which provides eligible participants the ability to purchase a guaranteed income stream for retirement payable by third-party insurers selected by BlackRock. 

Together, these alliances will provide CFS members with greater choice and flexibility in how they generate income and transfer wealth over time. Members will have access to lifetime income solutions combining fixed, CPI and investment-linked annuities, with account-based pensions, alongside flexible and tax-effective investment bond structures, and digital tools designed to support more confident decision-making across long-term and intergenerational planning.

Nick Hamilton, Managing Director and CEO, Challenger, said, “What’s powerful about this partnership with CFS is how naturally our organisations fit together. But the real significance goes beyond partnership mechanics. Australia has been very successful at helping people accumulate super, yet far less effective at helping them convert those balances into income they can actually depend on. CFS is embedding lifetime income at scale, and this collaboration tackles one of the hardest and least solved problems in the retirement system – how to turn savings into income for life.”

Jason Collins, Head of Australasia, BlackRock, said, “CFS has been a longstanding whole portfolio partner for BlackRock, and we are proud to continue supporting its MySuper LifeStage portfolios. Working alongside Generation Life, we look forward to contributing to the next phase of growth as CFS expands the retirement toolkit for advisers and members, and moves towards more integrated, end-to-end retirement solutions that help more Australians experience financial wellbeing.”

Felipe Araujo, CEO of Generation Life, said, “Generation Life is proud to be selected as a partner of choice by CFS to help co-develop next-generation wealth management and retirement solutions. Australia’s retirement system is entering a new phase, where advice delivery is keeping pace with the increasingly dynamic needs of Australian retirees. This alliance represents one of the first truly integrated retirement ecosystems of its kind in Australia, bringing together income, tax efficiency and intergenerational wealth planning in a more connected way to better support Australians through retirement and across generations”