Report from
the CEO

Hi, I'm Raphael Arndt and I'm the CEO of the Future Fund.

Financial Year 2026 was, in many ways, a sterling year for the Future Fund. Not only was the investment performance outstanding – 14.8% – but so many things that we've been researching, and thinking about in respect of the New Investment Order came to fruition, and the many years of research, thinking, developing plans and roadmaps that we've put in place really worked right across the portfolio.

It was a challenging year for investors, and so many of the strategies we’ve adopted really paid off. Listed markets were driven by a demand for AI companies, and we benefited from that. We also had geographic dispersion that we’d put on, an overweight to Japan paid off, an underweight to China paid off. The hedge fund portfolio really performed incredibly well.

It was a year where private equity, and particularly venture capital, came back with a vengeance, and we delivered very, very strong performance from the venture capital portfolio. Unlisted infrastructure performed very strongly. And so really, we had assets performing right across the portfolio.

The culture that we've got – to question, to depart from the status quo, to back yourself – came to the fore, because we took many positions that were slightly unusual. And the governance model that we have to back people, really worked.

So, the emergence of really advanced AI foundational models really was one of the themes of the year, and the use cases and the way that AI is going to change how economies function, and how companies go about their business really started to emerge – that drove both listed markets and a lot of our venture capital portfolio.

So, the Future Fund turned 20 this year, and that's a really important milestone, not just for the Future Fund, but for the country. And so, we took some time to reflect on where we've come from, and then where do we go from here over the next 20 years?

When I think back to when I joined the Future Fund, it was only about one year old. We had a very simplistic view of what we would become, but the kernel of the culture, the collaborative approach, the first principles way of viewing the world as an investor, looking forward not backwards, was already there, and we've become more sophisticated. We've built bigger portfolios and we've gone from that initial one fund and $60 billion to seven funds today, and over $350 billion under management.

I'm really proud of the progress we've made, and I've been really fortunate that my career has progressed, and I've been able to grow with the organisation through that almost 20 years.

So, we recently announced that I've decided to depart the organisation after almost 20 years, and it will be six and a half years as CEO. That was a hard decision for me. This is an amazing place with amazing people doing amazing things. There's a right time for every leader to leave an organisation, and from my perspective, the investment performance is outstanding.

We've got really deep and sound leadership right across the organisation. The strategy is clear. The Board is settled. It's a good time for me to move on to another chapter of my career and make room for other future leaders in the organisation.

So, I would like to thank both the current Board and previous Boards. The Future Fund approach to investing and its organisational culture is a little different to most asset owners in our space, and it does require a bit of faith and engagement to understand if we're doing a good job or not. You can't deliver the sort of investment performance we have over 20 years now, without the right culture and the right governance model, and ultimately all those things start with the Board.

When it comes to the organisation itself, my colleagues, both previous and current and in particular to the Executive team here, who supported me so magnificently through my period as CEO, I just want to say thank you. You couldn't do this job on your own, it requires a team, and we've got an outstanding team here at the Future Fund.

The people are amazing. They come and work here because they want to give back to the country. They're all bright, interested, but here they have a culture where they can be curious, inquisitive, where they can challenge each other safely, where they can get better together, and we foster and support that through our learning and development initiatives. That's the true collaborative model at work.

In departing the organisation, I just want to leave a message to all Australians to remind them why the Future Fund is important. Firstly, of course, we have the unfunded superannuation liabilities, and they are still there and the Future Fund is doing a great job to offset those liabilities with assets, so that future taxpayers don't have to pay those pensions.

Of course, we're now investing across six other funds as well, and so we're generating returns for medical research, for the indigenous community, for the rural community, for farmers and drought relief, and people benefiting from the NDIS. A whole lot of different aspects of Australian society, our investment outcomes go to support. But also, we have an amazing group of people here at the Future Fund, and they really are the best of the best of the investment world.

I think we've got an outstanding superannuation system here. It is really one of the industries where Australia is a world leader, and I think the Future Fund plays a part to stimulate the conversation, to challenge the status quo, and to make sure that we're forward looking and I hope it continues for many decades.