The Government has confirmed it is moving ahead with progressing the Retirement Income Covenant which was deferred last year to 1 July, 2022.
Speaking at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds (CMSF), Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services, and the Digital Economy and Minister for Women’s Economic Security, Jane Hume, said the purpose of the retirement income system was to provide income in retirement and smooth consumption between working life and retirement.
Hume said the covenant would require trustees to have a strategy to generate higher retirement incomes for members.
“The covenant allows super funds the flexibility to tailor their retirement income strategy to their specific membership base, while also allowing them to deliver solutions they think will work best for the particular cohorts of members in their fund,” she said.
“Once we pass the Your Future, Your Super reforms, this is the next cab off the rank.”
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.
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Australian Ethical has seen FUM growth of 27 per cent in the financial year to date.