Chris Bowen
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The Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, Chris Bowen, has announced the Government is streamlining long-term superannuation disclosure requirements.
The move would enable members to receive more useful and accessible information and would exclude exit statements, allow the industry to use inserts to provide five-year performance information until June 30, 2011, exempt traditional funds and allow approved deposit funds and pooled superannuation trusts to provide annual reports online.
Pauline Vamos, the Association of Superannuation Fund of Australia's (ASFA's) chief executive, welcomed the Government's announcement saying it was a clear victory for the industry. "This is a clear indication that this Government is willing to listen and is looking for pragmatic outcomes that provide a benefit to members without placing unnecessary costs on the industry. The next step is to provide income benefit projections for fund members in their annual statements. The industry wants to find a way to show people what they will get in retirement both with and without the age pension so that they can benchmark themselves against the Westpac-ASFA retirement standard," she said.
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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