While almost all financial planning organisations have signed up to the new Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), many superannuation funds appear to be dragging their feet.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revealed that almost all Financial Ombudsman Scheme (FOS) members which include financial planning firms had effectively transferred their membership to AFCA.
However, it noted that about 80 per cent of members of the Credit and Investments Ombudsman Scheme and about 64 per cent of superannuation trustees and retirement savings accounts providers had also joined up.
ASIC confirmed the status of the organisations which had signed up to AFCA while announcing it had approved the AFCA Complaint Resolution Scheme Rules and the Terms of Reference of the AFCA Independent Assessor (IA).
Firms are statutorily obliged to join the AFCA scheme by 21 September.
The superannuation industry was broadly opposed to having the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) wound down with its functions being included with the AFCA framework.
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.