SCT confirms winners and losers in super rollovers

A Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) determination has confirmed there are winners and losers in superannuation account rollovers, depending on timings.

Dealing with a complaint in which a superannuation fund member wanted to roll his balance into a Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF), the SCT pointed to the need for fund members to ensure they were aware of the underlying pricing methodologies.

The superannuation fund member and his financial adviser had suggested the system was not equitable because some members could manipulate the timing of their rollover to their advantage, while those members, who are unaware, were disadvantaged.

The SCT acknowledged the member’s claims but its determination said, “notwithstanding the ingenuity of the Complainant's arguments about the innate unfairness of the Trustee's Methodology, the core issue still comes down to timing; namely the timing of a rollover request and the date of processing, inevitably produces winners and losers when dealing with equity markets”.

“So long as the Trustee effects its Methodology in a reasonable timeframe and in a consistent manner, and there has been no suggestion to the contrary on either of those scores, then it is what it is,” the SCT determination said.

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“While the Tribunal has noted the Complainant's contentions in respect of the methodologies employed by other trustees in terms of rollovers out of their funds, the Tribunal has no doubts that

those rollovers also produce 'winners and losers' from a timing perspective”.