The Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer has taken a slap at superannuation funds over their lack of cooperation in providing detailed performance data and the industry’s failure to make the insurance inside superannuation code of conduct binding and enforceable.
In an address to the Financial Services Council (FSC) Leaders’ Summit in Melbourne, O’Dwyer reinforced that the Government had felt obliged to introduce its Protecting Your Super legislative package because of the failure of industry to make the code of conduct binding.
She said that while the Government had taken action in the areas where the Insurance inside Superannuation Working Group code had not gone far enough, she was pleased to hear that the FSC would be taking the other elements of the ISWG Code forward – and making them binding on the industry.
“I believe the ISWG Code can achieve meaningful change in areas such as claims handling and member disclosure, provided it is a mandatory code and is applied consistently across the whole industry,” O’Dwyer said.
On the question of certain superannuation funds failing to provide detailed performance data, O’Dwyer noted that even the Productivity Commission (PC) had encountered problems.
“It is frustrating to see the very same people in the industry who are championing the need for more granular data and regulatory oversight refuse to cooperate with the PC and to argue against the introduction of such measures in Parliament,” she said.
