The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) has suggested a few "minor" improvements to draft prudential standards on eligible rollover fund (ERF) transitions.
AIST said the transition plan should be extended to include all data held by the transferring ERF and not just the data which identifies individual members.
It said there was an implied obligation on trustees to seek to reunite members with an active account which could only be properly fulfilled by assessing all data held by the trustee.
"For example, information identifying a member's original fund is often a valuable tool in identifying a lost member, where insufficient additional information is available to identify a member's account," it said.
The industry body acknowledged that data quality was not great in ERFs but said the majority of birth dates were probably accurate. Where the birthdate was not knowk, AIST suggested giving the member a nominal age of 18.
Amendments were also necessary to remove the requirement to provide insurance (unless merged with another account) for ERF products that were transferred to a MySuper product under the standard, according to AIST.
It said it supported consideration of transition to another ERF but was ambivalent about the exclusion of MySuper using a lifecycle model.
The future of superannuation policy remains uncertain, with further reforms potentially on the horizon as the Albanese government seeks to curb the use of superannuation as a bequest vehicle.
Superannuation funds will have two options for charging fees for the advice provided by the new class of adviser.
The proposed reforms have been described as a key step towards delivering better products and retirement experiences for members, with many noting financial advice remains the “urgent missing piece” of the puzzle.
APRA’s latest data has revealed that superannuation funds spent $1.3 billion on advice fees, with the vast majority sent to external financial advisers.