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.
Amid a challenging market environment, three super fund CIOs have warned against ‘jumping at shadows’.
The professional body is calling for the annual performance test to transition to a two-metric test, so it better aligns with the overarching duty of super fund trustees to act in the best financial interests of their members.
AustralianSuper, Rest, and HESTA agree on the need to retain and enhance the test, yet they differ in their perspectives on the specific areas that warrant further refinement.
Australia’s second-largest super fund has confirmed it is expanding its presence in the UK following significant investment in the region.
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