The Financial Services Council (FSC) has welcomed the Senate’s passage of superannuation bills which will reduce fees charged on low balance MySuper accounts and will ban exit fees and consolidate inactive accounts.
At the same time, the Council said it remained concerned about for insurance in super because of the retrospective nature of this bill and the compressed timeframes for communications to members about the changes.
FSC’s chief executive, Sally Loane, said that the superannuation reform needed to be continued, in particular in the area of decoupling of default superannuation with the industrial relations systems.
“We are happy to see the member outcomes 1 legislation finally progress to the Lower House but we are very concerned late amendments to the bill will potentially lead more politicization of super, in that the minister of the day will have more power than the regulator, APRA, in determining how fund performance is assessed,” she said.
“Australian must retain the right to choose a superannuation fund that best meets their needs, without political overlays. A rushed, poorly criticised approach to superannuation will not serve consumers well and it doesn’t strengthen our world class system.”
The bills included:
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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