Government policy-makers should demand more of superannuation funds in terms of what they deliver their members, according to Industry Super Australia (ISA) chief executive, David Whiteley.
Whiteley has used his organisation's web site to argue that the debate around superannuation has to be about more than just tax, and that a starting point needs to be on defining a single objective for superannuation and what is required to deliver a comfortable retirement.
He said that the Government also needed to stop ad hoc fiddling with the superannuation policy settings and ensure that any changes which did occur were based on super, tax and retirement as a whole.
But he said that more demands needed to be placed on the superannuation industry itself.
"Policy makers should also demand more of the financial services industry," Whiteley said. "The performance of a worker's super fund can have a profound impact on their retirement savings and this needs to be a central feature of the debate."
He claimed that any suggestion super funds should improve their performance would be resisted by bank-owned funds "which on average produce lower returns because profits are divided up between members and bank shareholders".
"Not surprisingly, the banks support increasing the pension age to 70," Whiteley said.
Michael Lovett, who left the investment firm just three months after launching its Vanguard Super offering, has taken up a chief executive role at an Australian asset manager.
The Central Bank of Ireland has granted the approval of Equity Trustees’ exit from its Irish operations, with the transaction expected to be complete on 30 April.
Super returns continued to climb in March, raising hopes of delivering double-digit returns by June depending on the performance of this next quarter.
The dedicated super fund for emergency services and Victorian government employees is under fire for unpaid entitlements to transport employees, which could exceed $40 million.
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