Super Outlook Update: Plenty of reasons for change

The latest IUS/Super Review Super Outlook survey has provided the newly-elected Labor Government with every reason to stick with one of its key financial services policy planks — a move to a single regulator.

For the fourth time in succession, the survey has revealed a strong majority of respondents working in the financial services industry would prefer just one regulator rather than the current regime under which they are answerable to three — the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Taxation Office.

Asked if they believe the superannuation industry should have a single regulator, 87.9 per cent of respondents said ‘yes’ — a result strongly consistent with those recorded in the previous three years.

Significantly, nearly 80 per cent of respondents also suggested that regulation was now costing too much within the financial service sector, with 78.8 per cent of those completing the survey saying it was too expensive.

The IUS/Super Review Super Outlook survey was conducted in late October, November and early December and was timed to coincide with the national conference of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, held on the Gold Coast.

Significantly, the now Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said last year: “It has been a decade since the Wallis inquiry and the introduction of the ASIC-APRA model. We have said that it’s time to review the effectiveness of this arrangement.”

However, just a few weeks into the New Year, a number of financial services executives have actually defended what has become known as the ‘twin peaks’ model of APRA and ASIC.

Neither Swan nor the Minister for Superannuation, Senator Nick Sherry, have yet indicated how the Government will proceed with respect to Australia’s current regulatory arrangements.