Industry superannuation funds have acknowledged that the remuneration scrutiny directed at financial planners will ultimately reflect back on salaries paid to super fund executives.
Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) officer Andrew Barr has told the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds that the scrutiny on remuneration risked "the blow torch being turned back on us".
Explaining the AIST's approach to the Cooper Review, he said the likelihood of scrutiny being turned on levels of fund executive remuneration had resulted in a recommendation that funds make such information public. Barr said the AIST was recommending that member funds publish the remuneration of their top five executives in aggregate.
However, he suggested it would be open to funds to provide more detail if they saw fit.
Barr said the AIST had also recommended that superannuation ratings houses make their commercial arrangements with funds more transparent.
He said that if funds had paid to be rated then members should be made aware of the nature of that transaction.
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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