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:
In its pre-election policy document, the FSC highlighted 15 priority reforms, with superannuation featuring prominently, urging both major parties to avoid changing super taxes without a comprehensive tax review.
The Grattan Institute has labelled the Australian super system as “too complicated” and has proposed a three-pronged reform strategy to simplify superannuation in retirement.
Super funds delivered a strong 2024 result, with the median growth fund returning 11.4 per cent, driven by strong international sharemarket performance, new data has shown.
Australian Ethical has seen FUM growth of 27 per cent in the financial year to date.