King Charles, Jamie Dimon and me: Super fund CEO’s big moment

The summit was followed by dinner at Buckingham Palace – and a chat with King Charles on the back of that big investment commitment.

“I talked to him about opening up an office in the UK. I talked to him about the fact that we’ve really been quite a leader in the whole climate change arena, which he is such a huge, passionate supporter of – he was very engaged.”

The King’s big question: Is Aware investing in hydrogen yet? Stewart told him the fund isn’t quite there.

Stewart says Aware has been plotting the opening of its European base for some time, so the timing was fortuitous. But the British government clearly rolled out the red carpet, including hosting the official launch of the London office at the famous Mansion House.

“We’ve already got a number of direct investments in the UK, but we wanted to be much closer to where the deals were being done and be part of the deal flow. Having just been here over the last week, you can totally see the importance of being in the local market.”

Aware’s move to set up in London, following in the footsteps of AustralianSuper, is a further sign of the maturation of the $3.5 trillion super sector, and its increasing need to look far and wide for opportunities to put money to work.

Stewart was also struck by the eagerness for detail on the growth of the Australian super system in Britain from both UK pension bosses and the Prime Minister himself.

Stewart says Sunak was particularly keen to learn more about Aware’s new app, and its digitisation strategy. She whipped out her phone to demonstrate, only to find mobile signals in the PM’s office are blocked for security reasons. “He said, ‘next time I visit Australia, I want to come and see it’.”

Several other British pension leaders have asked for more information on the Aware app, highlighting what Stewart sees as Australia’s strong position on digitisation. “We think it’s sector-leading in Australia, but I truly think it is quite world-leading.”

She described the mood at the summit “as cautious, but not pessimistic”, and says Dimon and Schwarzman reminded attendees that periods of volatility can be fruitful for long-term investors.

“When you’ve got this degree of dislocation in the market, this is often the time that you find actually very strong investment opportunities,” she says.