The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) needs to provide a picture of fees across the entire default fund spectrum, not just MySuper products, according to the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST).
Referencing the release of recent data by APRA, AIST executive manager, Policy and Research, David Haynes, said it had revealed that $77 billion of default super savings remained outside the low-fee MySuper environment.
And it was with respect to this money that he said the industry remained in the dark over fees.
"Until the industry has a better idea of the fees charged on these default accounts, we won't be able to fully assess the extent they are inflating the level of fees paid by unsuspecting fund members," Haynes said.
The AIST has already noted that the Financial System Inquiry (FSI) has raised concerns about fee levels in superannuation and has urged the bringing forward of the final transition date for all default super savings to be moved into MySuper products.
aynes said while there was a wide range of fees and costs across the MySuper funds, the fees charged by non-MySuper default funds were likely to be significantly higher on average.
"In a compulsory super system such as ours, we don't think it is fair that some members of default funds should have to wait nearly three more years to benefit from fee reductions," he 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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