Industry Super Australia (ISA) has urged the Government not to cave into bank-lobbying to dismantle the industry superannuation governance model.
ISA pointed to reports that suggested the Government was preparing a raft of bills that could dismantle the model, and give bank-owned super funds a “leave pass” on some of the new disclosure and transparency requirements.
ISA said the bill came despite ongoing revelations about poor governance, culture, and conduct within the banks and their wealth management arms.
ISA chief executive, David Whiteley, said: “Industry super funds are deliberately different and have been immune to the scandals that continue to cause significant consumer loss and hardship”.
"Member-first governance and culture is the reason industry super funds outperform bank-owned super funds,” he said.
Whiteley said the success of the trustee governance model was evident of the outperformance of industry super funds over bank funds.
"The government should focus on fixing unpaid super, addressing the gender gap and reducing multiple accounts,” he said.
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.