Gale and Maroney warn of year of change

Both the SMSF Association chair, Andrew Gale, and chief executive, John Maroney, have warned attendees at the organisation’s national conference that 2018 could bring issues for the self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) industry.

They both used their speeches at the conference launch to canvas how the Royal Commission, the release of the Productivity Commission’s review of superannuation report and the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority’s (FASEA’s) education requirements could have impacts for SMSFs.

Although the Royal Commission’s terms of reference do not specifically encompass SMSFs, Gale said that it would still have the potential to include them. As the Commission would look at issues with Australian Financial Services Licensees’ advice and conduct, this could include advice regarding SMSFs.

Gale also warned that large super funds, especially industry funds, could try and deflect attention away from them in the Commission by criticising SMSFs. He pointed to minimum reasonable account balance sizes and Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements as two issues that could come under fire.

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Maroney flagged FASEA’s new education standards as a key issue that SMSF advisers would have to resolve this year. He acknowledged, however, that they were “an important reform” and said that trustees should “never accept the lowest denominator when it comes to SMSF advice.”

Maroney said that the changes faced by the industry this year made the Conference’s ‘beyond’ theme appropriate.

“We are still on a path to discovery as to the consequences of the biggest changes to our industry in over a decade,” he said. “‘Beyond’ is a clarion call for action.”