One of the biggest challenges to the superannuation industry has been the continual regulatory change that has come with consistent changes to federal leadership, according to JANA.
Speaking at a Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA) webinar, Georgie Dudley, JANA head of business strategy and innovation, said policymakers needed to provide a longer-term regulatory framework.
“The move every two to three years as you get a new kind of political regime is causing the entire industry to be chasing our tails and continually reacting to the rules that we’ve had a couple of years ago,” Dudley said.
Dudley’s sentiment was echoed by Robert Hogg, head of fixed interest and macro research at UniSuper and Emma Robertson, Vision Super’s head of investment operations, who said the industry needed to time to “catch its breath”.
Hogg said he had heard many conversations at barbeques about how sick people in the industry were about continual and evolving regulatory change “in what can sometimes seem change for change sake”.
He said the new super performance test was one area that policymakers and regulators should continually engage the industry on.
In August, 13 MySuper products failed Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)’s inaugural performance test.
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.