No evidence behind super governance reforms: ISA

There is no evidence to support legislation requiring superannuation funds' board to be made up of one third independent directors, Industry Super Australia (ISA) believes.

In its submission to the Senate Economics Committee, the ISA said "the measures are not supported by evidence", despite two reviews recommending changing the board structure of super funds to include one third independent directors.

Speaking at launch of the Government's Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, Assistant Treasurer, Kelly O'Dwyer, said the issue of having super fund boards made up of one third independent directors had been "around for quite a long period of time".

"Under the previous Government in 2010, Jeremy Cooper conducted a review of superannuation and made some very strong recommendations that in order to improve the governance arrangements for superannuation funds you needed to have a third of independent directors on the board of those super funds.

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"Since then David Murray in the Financial Systems Inquiry has made even stronger recommendations to improve governance. He argued for there to be a majority of independent directors on superannuation funds.

"The Government has been listening to both of them in their reports. The Government has also been listening to consumer groups as well… and all of them have said that it is important to have the strongest possible governance arrangements in place that will deliver the best outcomes for the retirement savings for Australians."

However, ISA chief executive, David Whiteley, said the Trustee Governance Bill "dismantles the governance structure of the successful not-for-profit super sector, while leaving the scandals and underperformance of the bank-owned sector unaddressed".