Opposition slams retail fee disclosure
The Federal Opposition has imposed itself on the debate into commission payments in the superannuation industry, using Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data to target some retail superannuation funds.
The opposition spokesman on Financial Services and Superannuation, Senator Nick Sherry, said APRA had told a Senate Estimates Committee that more than 100 of the 130 retail superannuation funds had failed to provide key data to identify commission payments as part of the regulator’s comparison of expense ratios.
He said APRA had told the committee that the failure of the retail funds to disclose meant that it would be early 2006 before a fuller picture would be known.
Sherry said the APRA superannuation performance statistics were the only independent, most authoritative and detailed data published, but the lack of material meant consumers and commentators could not be provided with aggregate commission or fees on which to make an informed choice between super funds.
The Opposition spokes-man called on the Investment and FinancialServices Association (IFSA) to ensure retail funds complied with the law and supplied the data.
Senator Sherry’s statement emerged at the same time as industry funds continue discussions with the regulators over the suitability of data being used in super choice television advertisements, which have had to be withdrawn.
Objections to the industry fund advertisements were raised by IFSA.
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