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.
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Insignia’s Master Trust business suffered a 1.9 per cent dip in FUA in the third quarter, amid total net outflows of $1.8 billion.
While the Liberal senator has accused super funds of locking everyday Australians out of the housing market, industry advocates say the Coalition’s policy would only push home ownership further out of reach.
Australia’s largest superannuation fund has confirmed all members who had funds stolen during the recent cyber fraud crime have been reimbursed.