Advisers urged dive into corporate super money pit

FINANCIAL advisers are being urged to stake a claim in the burgeoning $210 billion corporate superannuation market ahead of next year’s move to a choice of fund regime.

Delegates at the inaugural Dexx&r Adviser Corporate Super Conference were told last week the industry should prepare for an unprecedented level of demand from employers seeking advice from financial planners.

BT Financial Group national sales manager Simon Donohoe says under choice of fund, employers will need the services of a financial adviser more than ever.

“It’s impossible to see how an employer can go on without continued advice, [and] this is still a sector of the market where not many advisers actually participate,” Donohoe says.

However, Capstone Financial Planning financial adviser Kerry Souraris told the conference in Sydney that servicing the corporate market is not without risks for small or mid-size practices.

“You can’t just rely on corporate super alone, you’ve got to have something else that will actually feed you, and that’s where the personal advice comes in,” Souraris says.

According to Donohoe, the trend for employers to outsource their corporate funds could also be an opportunity for advisers.

However, Blake Dawson Waldron partner and head of national superannuation and life insurance Michael Vrisakis warned advisers at the conference to understand their obligations under the Financial Services Reform Act (FSRA) when doing business with corporate funds.

“If you provide a service which doesn’t have a bias towards any one particular outcome, then the adviser is just a tool, a mechanism to allow people to make an informed decision,” Vrisakis says.