Ian Tarutia
Meet Ian Tarutia: incoming Chairman, Pacific Islands Investment Forum
Upon the closing night of the 2023 CEO’s Forum in Papua New Guinea, we sat down with Ian Tarutia, outgoing CEO of Nasfund and incoming Chairman of the Pacific Islands Investment Forum, to reflect on his impressive career spanning 35 years within superannuation.
“We're all one… That's the way I've always looked at the Pacific. We are one region, one country, if you like, made up of little dotted islands… Sticking together is important.”
~ Ian Tarutia
Those who know Ian know he is a man of action, dedication and principle. To tell his story with justice, we must first jump back to the beginning of his career at Nasfund (formerly National Provident Fund of Papua New Guinea) on the 12th December, 1987. As he proudly states, his journey within superannuation began at the bottom. Fresh out of university where he intended to study science through the University of Papua New Guinea and become a Doctor, he could never have predicted the journey he would take to one day become CEO.
Interviewer: You started in 1987… There's obviously a number of progressions to move towards here. Tell us a little bit about the journey and the roles you have had as you progressed towards your current role.
“I have been proud to have started at the bottom - and I say this to all who comes to the Fund, to anyone who has asked me about my journey. Starting fresh from university gave me a good insight as to how a financial organisation like National Fund, as it was referred to then, worked and operated.”
“I've always been someone who's backed myself. I believe in my ability to do things. I am driven by results. I like to succeed. I'm competitive. So those are some of the attributes that have helped me in my career. In spite of losing different jobs or different responsibilities, I studied and learnt operations, moved into corporate affairs, then into investments and over the years, into leadership roles.”
“Supervisor; middle management; Deputy General Manager; General Manager. The Chief Operating Officer joined the CEO, which is a unique arrangement now with a colleague from Australia. And when he stepped down in November 2011, then I took over the associate.”
Interviewer: So your duration as a CEO was?
“If you count July 27 as a joint CEO role… 15 years at the CEO level.”
“I've always been someone who's backed myself. I believe in my ability to do things… I like to succeed.”
Interviewer: Wow. That’s very impressive. You’ve had a long journey, 35 years in total. What are some of the highlights?
“The highlights of my journey over the last 35 years… There's been the reforms that have taken place within the fund. The fund has had a checkered history of operations but the biggest one was in 2000 when sweeping reforms were introduced… Basically the focus was on governance and improving the governance of all the financial institutions that came under the ambit of government at the time. So that for me would have been the highlight because it changed my whole perspective about what superannuation can do and its impact on our people and contributors. What are those impacts? The impacts were that the government was removed from the whole administration of the fund.”
“They did not get involved in the appointment of board directors, they did not get involved with the appointment of the CEO - all that was left to individuals who had to be appointed through a meritocracy process. Good, capable, competent individuals were put in place of making this governance improvement. And then two key functions that were normally within the operations of the fund, the investment management and the fund administration, were outsourced to profitable service providers. So that provided the check and balance; that provided the governance framework for our industry going forward from 2000 for the fund itself. The balance sheet at that time, I remember it being around 225 million back in 1999-2000, and today the National Superannuation Fund, non mass fund, net asset value and so that's 6.3 billion kina. That shows the size and the growth of the fund when good governance is at play.”
“People appointed on merit skill must clear fit and proper tests. Contributors also have to be at the forefront of everything we do; investment decision making, service, delivery - ensuring the quality of life for our members after they leave the active employment or reach that goal in retirement and that they have a pool of money that can sustain themselves and their family.”
Interviewer: As the major supporter of the Forum, why did you step up? Why do you support this forum?
“I supported the the forum and its predecessor, the Pacific Provident Fund and Social Security because I believe in scale. That's the first point. Secondly, we have a lot of common interests and there's a lot of commonalities in everything that we do. As Pacific Islanders, our culture is more or less the same. We identify in the way we treat each other in times of need.”
“Family is around for an individual who needs support. As a region, in a way one of the untapped regions of the world that has so much more to offer. If you take away Asia, take away Europe, the Americas, and you look at the areas in which we are located, if we do things - even though we're small individually - collectively as a group… we can give a voice to be reckoned with. And it's not only superannuation… there’s also climate change. Our geographical location for some of our islands means our interest is now to have a bigger place. So my keenness was doing things together on a scale because of our common shared culture and beliefs, as asylum people, to do better for our own people and our countries as well.”
Interviewer: What do you see for the future?
“The future for PIIF? For PIIF, we continue to work together - that's important. We have already achieved so much in this short space of time under our new constitution and we can only get better. So for me, staying together is important because together we can do a lot of things in the region. We are all becoming one. We cannot look at ourselves as individual countries. That's the way I've always looked at the Pacific. We are one region, one country, if you like, made up a little dotted islands… sticking together is important.”
“Secondly, we can do some investments that ticks all the boxes that we have to take as prudent superannuation retirement funds. That would be a big achievement for me. I know there's still a lot more hoops to jump through and there's a lot more hurdles for many reasons. Jurisdictions are different. We have different processes. Our governance structures are different. But when there's a will, there's a way. So we maintain that.”
“Certainly I'm really pleased, from the time that I've been involved with PIIF, with the interest shown by multilateral partners and the big players - ADB, World Bank, IMF, New Zealand government and the Australian Government through the DFAT and the Infrastructure Financing Facility program run by Australia. I think that's a really big achievement in them coming to see what we're doing and supporting it. We need to capitalise on that interest to take us to the next path in the journey.”
Interviewer: That sounds fantastic. Last question. What is next for Ian Tarutia?
“What is next for me? I was in the Prime Minister's office earlier and he apologised and he said, look, I will speak to you next week. I've got something that I want you to look at,” Ian says this with a lighthearted chuckle, “jokes aside, superannuation has been a part and parcel of my DNA and my blood for the last 35 years and I will always remain. I think at this juncture of my of my life I want to pursue other endeavours still but spending more time with family is the first that jumps to mind."
“There's a couple of personal projects and commitments that I have been putting out for some time so I need to attend to that. But I think that I have 10-15 years left in the petrol tank so certainly PIIF and all the funds in the Pacific will see me. I'll still be around and of course I'll always be available to offer help and guidance.”
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