Australia’s two largest superannuation funds have welcomed today’s Quality of Advice Review announcement in a joint statement.
Super funds are the big winners from today’s release with Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, making steps to allow super funds to provide advice to their members.
Australian Retirement Trust (ART) and AustralianSuper said they believe the plan to adopt 14 of the 22 recommendations was a “positive step forward to improve the quality, affordability and accessibility of financial advice for millions of Australians”.
In particular, it welcomed the removal of statements of advice, broadening the scope of intra-fund advice, and the clarity of the sole purpose test in relation to collective charging and the payment of advice fees from member accounts.
The two funds had a combined 5.3 million members and $530 billion in members’ retirement savings.
ART chief executive, Bernard Reilly, said the fund already had 100,000 members who used external financial advisers.
“At Australian Retirement Trust we know that financial advice has the power to materially change people’s lives and lead to better retirement outcomes for members, but that not enough Australians know who to go to or where to start. These reforms will empower members to have greater choice in relation to how they access financial advice, whether that be through their super fund, digital channels or external financial advisers,” Reilly said.
Paul Schroder, CEO of AustralianSuper, said: “Superannuation funds are the right vehicles for these reforms as there is already very strong legislation — governing fiduciary duty — in place to ensure funds such as AustralianSuper act in the best financial interests of members with the sole purpose of generating the best possible financial outcome for members in retirement.
“This is a positive step forward for millions of members as they will now be able to access the level of financial advice they require. The removal of barriers on the provision of digital advice is a game changer, whether that is simple guidance to assist members in delivering an income in conjunction with the age pension or more complex advice needs.”
The government’s final response to the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes package is expected to be released later in 2023.
