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Industry fund CEO details ‘shameful’ conduct
Some of Australia's major financial institutions have fallen well short of acceptable behaviour in a fashion similar to Volkswagen, according to AustralianSuper chief executive, Ian Silk.
Delivering an ovation to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) annual conference in Brisbane, Silk did not name those companies guilty of falling short but said they had been well-named on the pages of the national newspapers.
He said they had been guilty of a shameful examples of bad conduct the negative results of which had a flow-on effect to public perceptions of other players in the industry.
Silk said it was in these circumstances that the superannuation had to commit itself to putting members' interest first.
Among the issues raised by Silk as requiring being addressed were claims by some organisations that their products were "no fee" when, while legally defensible, this was not the case.
The AustraliaSuper chief executive also pointed to those organisations promoting active investment strategies but who placed members into passive default products.
"Sub-optimal products," he said.
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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.
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