The Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) has delivered the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) its opinion that the plan to publish ‘fund level’ performance data represents a “sub-optimal compromise” on the issue.
In its submission to the industry regulator on the matter, IFSA offered its full support for the publication of investment option performance comparisons, but at the same time called the plan a compromise “between the information that APRA collects and holds — and the information that super fund members really need”.
“IFSA’s members fully support the publication of reliable and relevant performance data that will allow superannuation members to compare the performance of their investment option with that of similar options provided by other funds,” said IFSA chief executive Richard Gilbert.
However, Gilbert said in the development of league table data, “a rushed and highly compromised outcome will not assist investors”.
“In this regard, a single figure trust level return on assets (RoA) is merely an aggregation of the investment experience of thousands of members, in hundreds of investment options, across multiple products. It is not reflective of the investment experience of any one member or group of members.”
IFSA is concerned that RoA data as an interim measure would have the potential to mislead investors, Gilbert said.
IFSA is encouraging all superannuation funds to supply unit pricing and investment option performance data to research houses on a weekly basis that can be used in the meantime.
“For many years, the industry has supplied unit pricing and investment option performance data on a weekly basis to several research houses and this data can be used in the meantime, as it is published in major daily newspapers,” Gilbert said.
Meanwhile, IFSA has announced the appointment of ING Australia chief executive Harry Stout as a director of IFSA. Stout, who is based in Sydney, also takes up the position of chair of IFSA’s marketing and distribution board committee. Stout replaces former director Rob Coombe, who resigned from the IFSA board in December 2008.
