IOOF : Chairman's and CEO's Address to Shareholders

IOOF Holdings Ltd	GPO Box 264
ABN 49 100 103 722	Melbourne VIC 3001
Level 6, 161 Collins Street	Phone 13 13 69
Melbourne VIC 3000	www.ioof.com.au

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25 November 2021

2021 Annual General Meeting

Attached are the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer addresses to shareholders to be presented today at the IOOF 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The AGM will be held virtually at 9:30am AEDT and can be accessed at the following link https://web.lumiagm.com/370300136.

For more information please see our website. Please note, a recording will be available on our website shortly after the event.

-ENDS-

Authorised for release by the Company Secretary of IOOF Holdings Ltd.

Investor enquiries:	Media enquiries:
Cary Helenius	Kristen Allen
Executive Director	General Manager, Corporate Affairs
Market Eye	IOOF
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E: [e-mail]	[e-mail]

About IOOF Holdings Ltd

IOOF has been helping Australians secure their financial future since 1846. During that time, we have grown substantially to become one of the largest groups in the financial services industry.

IOOF provides advisers and their clients with the following services:

• Financial Advice services via our extensive network of financial advisers;
• Portfolio & Estate Administration for advisers, their clients and hundreds of employers in Australia; and
• Investment Management products that are designed to suit any investor's needs.

Further information about IOOF can be found at www.ioof.com.au

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Chairman's Address to the AGM - 25 November 2021

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the 2021 Annual General Meeting of shareholders.

With participants from all over the country here today, I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands on which we meet. Where I stand, I acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Last year, I described the 2020 financial year as one of volatility, change and disruption. Even so, who could have foreseen the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic would continue to impact our lives so profoundly in 2021?

The persistent effects of the pandemic underscored that 2021 would require a new type of resilience. A resilience that would draw on a dogged stubbornness to overcome adversity. A resilience we have come to know as the Australian way.

Thankfully, the prospects for the world economy have brightened. In May this year, the Reserve Bank of Australia noted the Australian economy is transitioning from recovery to expansion phase earlier and with more momentum than anticipated.1

We can start to look forward to shaping the future rather than surviving through the present. The question is, what does the future look like?

One way of seeing into the future is to refer to the Federal government's Intergenerational Report. Released in June this year, the Report gives a glimpse into how Treasury thinks the country and the economy will look in four decades' time, and how particular policies will shape or change the outlook.

The report paints a picture of a country dealing with smaller-than-expected population growth, and a large and ageing population that will continue to put greater stress on welfare and health services.

1Minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting of the Reserve Bank Board (04 May 2021) https://www.rba.gov.au/monetary-policy/rba-board-minutes/2021/2021-05-RBA, Statement on Monetary Policy - May 2021

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The long-term economic impact of the pandemic is also outlined in the Report - and it's sobering.

It forecasts the budget will remain in deficit for at least another 40 years, improving to 0.7 per cent in 2036-37 and then widening to 2.3 per cent by 2060-61 as the effects of ageing take hold.

That said, for every mega-trend, there is a counter trend. The Report quietly signals a shift in financial power to the Millennial generation. These people born between 1980 - 1995 will be the recipients of a $3.5 trillion wealth transfer from the 'Baby Boomers'. By 2030, Millennials are expected to earn two out of every three dollars in Australia.

Financial wellbeing

Today, consumers are seizing on record low interest rates to take out a mortgage, invest in shares, start a business, or reconfigure work arrangements to support their goals and adapting to changed work patterns, digitisation and higher earning potential.

More than ever, this brings into focus the relevance of IOOF's strategy and value proposition - the importance of financial wellbeing.

According to an Australian Stock Exchange's Investor Study2 undertaken in 2020, consumers last year saved $200 billion, and 2.5 million consumers began investing for the first time. Interestingly, a quarter of new investors were aged between 18 and 24.

Millennials will need the skills and support to understand and look after more wealth and more risk, as they inherit statistically greater sums than any other previous generation.

Informed financial decisions can be the difference in reaping those benefits or wearing the risks after it is too late. We need to consider - for a generation inheriting statistically higher levels of wealth than their parents - but who have arguably a harder job at making it themselves - access to information neither equates to being informed, nor being advised.

For example, only 35 per cent of Australians aged 25-34 consider themselves 'well informed' when it comes to their superannuation. Two in three reportedly cannot name the age at which they will be able to access their superannuation savings.3

1. Australian Stock Exchange's Investor Study, 2020. Retrieved at: file:///C:/Users/sxh071/Downloads/ASX-Australian-Investor- Study-2020.pdf
2. Centre for International Finance and Regulation (CIFR) (2021) University of NSW, Sydney.

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Importance of financial advice

Our own research backs this up. 'The True Value of Advice' Report we published in 2020 identified 90% of advised clients feel that accessing financial advice has left them in a better position financially and 89% reported that receiving advice allowed them to live their desired lifestyle - even in a COVID-19 context.

Asked how helpful their financial adviser has been in managing the impact of COVID-19, 84% of advised investors say they have been 'extremely' or 'very' helpful.

Further, advised clients say it provides them with improved mental health, less worry and stress and better relationships with family and friends. And this is the ultimate test of financial wellbeing.

Financial advice is, for the most part, facilitating this change. However, what this means is Australians with limited financial means still have considerable unmet advice needs. We have a current - and growing - 'advice gap'. This poses at least six challenges and impacts for Australia's financial advice sector.

These include,

1. First: A surging demand for scaled and single-issue advice.
2. Second: Compliance. Compliance is now a core function of advice businesses and a key driver of trust but also cost.
3. Third: A reducing number of financial advisers capable of providing financial advice on a per capita basis
4. Fourth: Rising barriers to entry to the profession with new entrants and existing advisers required to complete a Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (or 'FASEA') approved bachelor's degree to meet standards
5. Fifth: A reduced social license and trust in the profession, and finally,
6. Sixth: And probably the most worrying, is the rising risk of unlicensed advice and the emergence of 'finfluencers'4.

I have said it before, we have a once in a generation opportunity to create the leading advice-led financial services organisation delivering affordable and accessible financial advice to all Australians.

4 Australian Financial Review. Source: Investing 'under the influence' (afr.com) (8 Jan 2021)

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And we are seizing that opportunity. Five months on from the completion of the acquisition of MLC we have tackled the simplification agenda with urgent, though measured, planning and implementation. As with all major transformations, there have been forks in the road.

These forks have typically represented opportunities to assess options which advance us safely towards our desired future state quicker, smarter, and cheaper in the long run.

ESG

One of these forks is our response to the increasing prominence of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

ESG builds on the ideas put forward by the socially responsible investment movement, but applies financial, rather than moral, relevance to the model.

The increasing adoption of ESG management systems is driven by two concurrent trends.

First, significant social pressures, a shift in expectations for private enterprise, and ongoing regulatory changes have increased demand for us to proactively take responsibility for potential externalities affecting the environment and society.

Second, there is a growing recognition amongst investment and business professionals that ESG issues can have a material impact on company value and that the management of such risks can preserve (and even enhance) economic value for companies and their shareholders.

Why? Because a business that is reducing or neutralising its carbon footprint, diversifying its supply chain, and applying strong data governance is a safer investment than one that is not.

The evidence of this momentum lies in the significant tilt towards sustainable investing.

Bloomberg Intelligence estimates ESG assets are likely to reach $53 trillion by 2025, a third of global assets-under-management.5 Globally, the percentage of both retail and institutional

5Bloomberg Intelligence at https://www.bloomberg.com/company/press/esg-assets-rising-to-50-trillion-will-reshape-140-5-trillion-of-global-aum-by-2025-finds-bloomberg-intelligence/