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 super fund announced that Gregory has been appointed to its executive leadership team, taking on the fresh role of chief advice officer.
The deputy governor has warned that, as super funds’ overseas assets grow and liquidity risks rise, they will need to expand their FX hedge books to manage currency exposure effectively.
Super funds have built on early financial year momentum, as growth funds deliver strong results driven by equities and resilient bonds.
The super fund has announced that Mark Rider will step down from his position of chief investment officer (CIO) after deciding to “semi-retire” from full-time work.