While the government’s Your Future, Your Super (YFYS) reform package, which took effect last July, has been widely derided by the industry, it is the first step in a move to requiring the industry to improve its efficiency, transparency and accountability. One of the unexpected consequences of the YFYS changes is the fact that it…

There was both despair and positivity when the much-anticipated changes to the transparency of industry super fund proposals was released recently. Both 2020 and 2021 have seen growing pressure on the industry fund sector from the Coalition government and a number of committees as they sought to lift the lid on the massive part of…

The regulatory focus has once again returned to the industry or union superannuation fund sector in recent weeks. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission disclosed that they had been investigating the investment decisions of super fund executives at as many of 23 funds amid the pandemic. The incredibly uncertain times that occurred in March 2020…

Renato Mota, IOOF CEO, believes that advice is changing – and that IOOF must change with it. Key to that will be bringing digital and “modular” services to the unadvised masses. Fresh off the back of its acquisition of MLC, IOOF now has some 2.2 million clients, 1975 advisers, and a burning question to answer:…

Eight of Australia’s largest financial advice industry associations have joined forces to oppose the design of the compensation scheme of last resort, contained in draft legislation released for public consultation. The Financial Services Royal Commission recommended the establishment of a compensation scheme of last resort to compensate consumers once all other avenues had been exhausted….

Ernst and Young (EY) has released a research publication titled the “Future of asset management.” As the title suggests, a transformation in the way asset managers are positioned, and their global outlook, is required, so that long-term value can be created for all stakeholders. EY says: “The industry needs to rethink its purpose and position…

Earlier this year, an army of small-time millennial traders successfully shook-up the US stock market and took on Wall Street.  A shorting attack on a company called GameStop (NYSE: GME), led by hedge funds, was outflanked by a frenzied buying assault from an online crowd centred on the the WallStreetBets “subreddit” chat-forum on Reddit. It…

Industry fund-owned ‘The New Daily’ is once again in political hot water after a controversial deal with AustralianSuper to auto-subscribe 800,000 of the fund’s members to the publication. ‘The New Daily’ has become a bee in the bonnet for a number of Liberal backbenchers, most notably NSW Senator Andrew Bragg, who has characterised the publication…

This week saw the release of the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO’s) latest quarterly data on the self-managed super fund (SMSF) sector. The information provides a unique insight into what has been a sector under pressure for many years now, as both regulators and industry fund alternatives fine-tuned their focus.  The takeaway from the latest publicly…

The end of the financial year is closing in fast after what has been a tumultuous period for many in Australia. Despite a reasonably uneventful year for superannuation legislation and policy changes, opportunities abound for superannuants and investors of all kinds. One of the most important roles of a financial adviser is to prompt and…

Prime Minister Scott Morrison took the opportunity at this week’s Liberal Party meeting to confirm that the minimum pension drawdown standards would be reduced for another financial year. The so-called COVID-19 measures were set to apply for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years in light of the financial losses experienced by investors during the pandemic….

The cash conundrum facing retirees is well-known and broadly appreciated, yet little is being done to address it. With global governments forced to flood the economy with cheap cash to avoid a depression, the result has been the transfer of wealth from savers, who receive a pittance on their low-risk investors, and borrowers, who are…