Tribunal calls for super fund transparency
SUPER fund trustees are being urged by the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) to clearly identify reasons leading to granting or disallowing benefits to members.
SCT chairman Graham McDonald says while providing such information is not a legally enforceable requirement, lack of explanation often results in complaints being lodged with the tribunal.
McDonald says such action would also benefit funds operating in a competitive market to differentiate themselves and that spelling out the justification for their decisions may help to attract new members.
“The lack of an explanation coupled with advice that a free review mechanism exists, almost inevitably results in an application being lodged with the tribunal, [and] given those circumstances, which of us would not seek to pursue an appeal?” McDonald says.
“On the other hand, a member who receives a summary of reasons and/or a list of the factors considered by the trustee is much better placed ... to assess whether lodging an application for review would be worthwhile,” he says.
He says a growing appreciation by the courts that super is no longer a discretionary matter, but a compulsory entitlement may ultimately lead to requiring trustees to give reasons to members for their decisions.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
With the final tally for FY25 now confirmed, how many advisers left during the financial year and how does it compare to the previous year?
HUB24 has appointed Matt Willis from Vanguard as an executive general manager of platform growth to strengthen the platform’s relationships with industry stakeholders.
Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners has announced a raft of adviser-focused updates, including a practice growth division, relaunched manager research capabilities, and a passive model portfolio suite.
When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.
