The Financial Services Council (FSC) has welcomed the Senate’s passage of superannuation bills which will reduce fees charged on low balance MySuper accounts and will ban exit fees and consolidate inactive accounts.
At the same time, the Council said it remained concerned about for insurance in super because of the retrospective nature of this bill and the compressed timeframes for communications to members about the changes.
FSC’s chief executive, Sally Loane, said that the superannuation reform needed to be continued, in particular in the area of decoupling of default superannuation with the industrial relations systems.
“We are happy to see the member outcomes 1 legislation finally progress to the Lower House but we are very concerned late amendments to the bill will potentially lead more politicization of super, in that the minister of the day will have more power than the regulator, APRA, in determining how fund performance is assessed,” she said.
“Australian must retain the right to choose a superannuation fund that best meets their needs, without political overlays. A rushed, poorly criticised approach to superannuation will not serve consumers well and it doesn’t strengthen our world class system.”
The bills included:
The Federal Court has ordered AustralianSuper to pay $27 million for failures to address multiple member accounts.
The country’s fourth-largest fund is targeting the “missing middle” of members with a new digital advice service in partnership with Ignition Advice.
The prudential regulator confirmed it is considering BUSSQ’s Federal Court appeal.
The Albanese government has put forward a bold proposal to tackle the challenges of Australia’s swelling retirement pool, in an effort to allow superannuation funds to play a more active role in shaping members’ retirement outcomes.