New data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority’s (AFCA’s) datacube shows a decrease of complaints in the superannuation fund trustee/adviser sector for 2H 2019.
They had received 2,787 complaints, with 880 resolved at Registration and Referral, between 1 July, 2019, to 31 December, 2019; compared to 3,223 complaints from 1 November, 2018, to 30 June, 2019.
If a complaint was unresolved at the Registration and Referral stage, it progressed to Case Management, and 1,497 of the 1,824 that progressed were closed.
In this stage, 776 were reached by agreement, 224 discontinued, 240 were found in favour of financial firms, and 34 in favour of the complainant.
The cases which remained unresolved at that stage then reached the Decision stage, which had 159 complaints, which saw 87% of outcomes ruled in favour of the financial firm and 13% in favour of the complainant.
Account administration accounted for 55.5% of complaints, while group life insurance was 29.6%.
Death benefits distribution (12.6%) and pensions (1.4%) were the other major complaint groups, with all other complaints totalling 1%.
The research house has offered a silver lining after super fund returns saw the end of a five-month streak last month.
A survey of almost 6,000 fund members has identified weakening retirement confidence, particularly among those under 55 years of age, signalling an opportunity for super funds to better engage with members on their retirement journey.
The funds have confirmed the signing of a successor fund transfer deed, moving closer to creating a new $29 billion entity.
A number of measures, including super on Paid Parental Leave, funding to recover unpaid super, and frameworks to encourage investment in the energy transition, have been welcomed by the superannuation industry.
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