Financial Services Council (FSC) chief executive John Brogden has indicated the organisation needs to take a stand to more broadly influence greater economic policy.
In a speech to the FSC annual conference, Brogden said the organisation's aim was to extend its ability to influence policy, and to put financial services policy front and centre in the consideration of governments.
He described this as a three to five-year agenda and said the FSC was on the path to achieving that.
The FSC's objective, rather than defending its territory and preserving what it does well, is to advance its interests on behalf of Australians "whose retirement savings we hold in trust" and to "influence the economy in which we invest," he said.
Brogden said now is the time to raise the superannuation preservation age from 60 to 62.
Australia currently has a superannuation savings gap of $836 billion, but Rice Warner research finds that increasing the time spent in the workforce for every Australian by just one year reduces the superannuation savings gap by $200 billion, Brogden said.
"With life expectancy now 79 for men and 84 for women compared with 72 for men and 79 for woman in 1992 when the superannuation guarantee was introduced, the time has come to consider whether the superannuation preservation age of 60 is appropriate," he said.
"The Government deserves credit for increasing the age pension eligibility to 67 in 2009. It's now time to close the seven-year gap between the preservation age for superannuation and the age pension. The gap will accelerate consumption of superannuation before retirees become eligible for the age pension," Brogden said.
Lifting the preservation age by two years would boost national retirement savings by granting two additional years of contributions at 12 per cent of asset growth on the entire accumulated balance and two less years of consumption in retirement, he said.
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