Industry superannuation funds were guilty of hypocrisy when they attacked the vertically integrated nature of financial services companies, according to Fiducian head platform services, Patrick Jackson.
Jackson told the Fiducian annual conference on Friday that while industry funds had been attacking vertical integration for a long time, this overlooked the vertically-integrated nature of their own operations.
"Industry funds are as vertically-integrated as anyone else," he said.
Jackson also questioned the validity of the industry funds' advertising campaign, arguing that while they had been allowed to advertise to create scale, this had not necessarily been translated into lower fees for industry fund members.
"There advertising campaigns are pretty negative and I believe they are designed to kill off competitors," he said.
However Jackson said he believed attacks on business models were misconceived.
"The problem is really not business models," he said. "The problem resides in issues such as poor compliance, sales culture, poor administration and improper remuneration structures."
The two funds have announced the signing of a non-binding MOU to explore a potential merger.
The board must shift its focus from managing inflation to stimulating the economy with the trimmed mean inflation figure edging closer to the 2.5 per cent target, economists have said.
ASIC chair Joe Longo says superannuation trustees must do more to protect members from misconduct and high-risk schemes.
Super fund mergers are rising, but poor planning during successor fund transfers has left members and employers exposed to serious risks.