Retirement income policy needs change: Benari

On the back of strong results from Challenger's life insurance business, chief executive Brian Benari said the increased demand for reliable retirement income streams is forcing both sides of politics to consider removing some of the existing impediments in deferred annuities.

He said although baby boomers had been accumulating their own superannuation, product providers were recognising that there was a need to have differentiated products for accumulation accounts and retirees.

This need would only continue to grow over the next 20 years as the retirement wave raged on, Benari said.

"There's a lot of reviews going on — there's a superannuation roundtable being run by Bill Shorten and its next meeting is in March," he said.

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"Similarly, the Opposition has also come out — this was a release from (Shadow Treasurer) Joe Hockey a couple of weeks ago — whereby they said they would also look to address the impediments around retirement income solutions."

Benari added that many of the industry associations, including the Financial Services Council and Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, have also recognised that these impediments need to be addressed.