Any Royal Commission into the banking and financial services industry should include superannuation funds, according to a survey conducted by Money Management.
The survey attracted 257 respondents, the vast majority of which did not believe a Royal Commission was warranted but who nonetheless believed that superannuation funds should not be allowed to escape scrutiny.
Importantly, nearly 70 per cent of respondents believed that vertical integration had contributed to the problems which had given rise to the calls for a Royal Commission.
While the Federal Government has consistently resisted calls for a Royal Commission into the banking and financial services industry, the make-up of the new Parliament was such that the Government may not now have the numbers to resist such a move.
Asked whether they believed a Royal Commission was warranted into the banking and financial services industry, 71.2 per cent of respondents answered no, but a significant majority then suggested that if a Royal Commission had to be held it should be inclusive of superannuation funds, particularly industry funds.
Around 42 per cent of respondents suggested that financial planning should be excluded from the terms of a Royal Commission, with many commenting that the industry had already been the subject to extensive scrutiny over many years.
The survey revealed little sympathy for the banks with most respondents nominating vertical integration as a major source of the problems which had beset the industry, and using their comments to call for a stronger separation of product sales form advice.
