One of the biggest challenges to the superannuation industry has been the continual regulatory change that has come with consistent changes to federal leadership, according to JANA.
Speaking at a Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA) webinar, Georgie Dudley, JANA head of business strategy and innovation, said policymakers needed to provide a longer-term regulatory framework.
“The move every two to three years as you get a new kind of political regime is causing the entire industry to be chasing our tails and continually reacting to the rules that we’ve had a couple of years ago,” Dudley said.
Dudley’s sentiment was echoed by Robert Hogg, head of fixed interest and macro research at UniSuper and Emma Robertson, Vision Super’s head of investment operations, who said the industry needed to time to “catch its breath”.
Hogg said he had heard many conversations at barbeques about how sick people in the industry were about continual and evolving regulatory change “in what can sometimes seem change for change sake”.
He said the new super performance test was one area that policymakers and regulators should continually engage the industry on.
In August, 13 MySuper products failed Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)’s inaugural performance test.
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.