Prime Minister Julia Gillard has commended the Industry Super Funds Network (ISN) for its role in contributing to the creation of the opt-in policy within the Government’s Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reform package.
Speaking at an ISN luncheon in Melbourne this week, Prime Minister Gillard told the audience they should feel proud of the role they have played in securing the “iconic opt-in policy”.
“You stood with us to get rid of the conflicts of interest and the excessive fees,” Ms Gillard said. “You stood with us to secure the iconic opt-in policy to bring fairness to financial advice. You stood with us to bring simple, low fee super accounts to every worker who needs one.”
For any Labor Prime Minister, a room full of industry super funds people is a good room to be in
She also praised ISN CEO, David Whitely, for his leadership, and for supporting the Government’s “determination to secure a better retirement for all Australians”.
“For any Labor Prime Minister, a room full of industry super funds people is a good room to be in,” she said.
The luncheon coincided with the release of new research commissioned by the ISN which it says proves retail investors would have achieved better returns by putting their super in the bank, rather than investing with retail funds over the past 14 years.
The report acknowledged the Government for taking a step to address these market failures through its FoFA reforms.
‘The reforms are designed to remove conflicts of interest from financial advice which have led to Australians being placed in poorly performing funds,’ the ISN noted in its report.
‘Financial advisers will be obliged to act in their clients’ best interest and financial inducements from product providers will be prohibited. Trailing fees which can siphon tens of thousands of dollars out of an individual’s super savings will be curbed and replaced with transparent fee for service charging.’
