The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) welcomed the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) move to crack down on misleading fee disclosure practices in the super industry.
AIST policy and research manager David Haynes is pleased ASIC is seeing the need to shield consumers from super funds that under-disclose their fees and costs for financial advantage.
Haynes said AIST was particularly worried about products that were marketed as 'low-fee’ or 'no-fee’, where in fact fees were just hidden.
“Funds not disclosing in the spirit of laws requiring full disclosure can be misleading consumers,” he said.
“In a compulsory super system, consumers must be able to easily compare funds based on meaningful and consistent information about fees and costs.”
In a report released this week, ASIC said many funds ignored costs associated with investing through external investment structures and only looked at the first layer of fees in underlying investment vehicles.
The financial services sector needs to be consistent in its disclosure of fees and costs, ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer said.
ASIC is especially concerned about the disclosure of management costs.
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.