Bowen promises early release of Cooper



|
The Minister for Financial Services, Chris Bowen, has vowed he will not sit on the final recommendations of the Cooper Review into superannuation for very long.
Interviewed on radio, Bowen said he would be releasing the final recommendations of the Cooper Review panel “in the not too distant future”.
“I'll be releasing it quite soon,” he said, and referred to it as being the “third stage” of the Government’s reforms to superannuation, with the first stage being the Future of Financial Advice changes and the second stage being the changes announced in the Budget.
“The third stage will be our reforms to the efficiency of the superannuation system to get fees lower, and when you put these three reforms together, we would have over the last few months completely changed the Australian superannuation system in a way that hasn't been seen since Paul Keating introduced superannuation in 1992, and that will be a change for the better,” the minister claimed.
While the minister has not yet released the final Cooper recommendations, its content has been broadly welcomed by the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA), particularly those elements going to improving administration through online processing and the use of Tax File Numbers.
However, IFSA chief executive John Brogden expressed his organisation’s ongoing resistance to the Cooper Review’s so-called MySuper default option proposals.
Recommended for you
ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland has detailed the regulator’s intentions to conduct surveillance on licensees and advisers who are recommending managed accounts, noting a review is “warranted and timely” given the sector’s growth.
AMP and HUB24 have shared the areas where they are seeking future adviser growth, with HUB24 targeting adding more than 2,000 advisers to the platform.
Bravura Solutions has appointed a new chair and deputy chair to take over from departing Matthew Quinn, while Shezad Okhai picks up another responsibility.
Two advisers say M&A is becoming a “contact sport” as competition heats up to acquire attractive advice firms, while a lack of new entrants creates roadblocks in organic growth opportunities.