The issue of cost has fast emerged as a big focus for the industry.

Low-cost investment products, such as exchange-traded funds, continue to proliferate.

In the super industry, the Cooper review's MySuper proposal aims to push the industry to develop simple, cheap superannuation fund alternatives.

In response to this proposal, AMP and BT Financial Group have already launched cheap and simple super products.

The quest for low-cost alternatives, however, could come at a price.

This week, industry practitioner Warren Chant commented that the MySuper proposal could distort costs.

According to Chant, the shift towards low-cost super funds would lead to retail funds putting greater emphasis on index funds, forcing industry funds to invest differently.

Yet this might not necessarily mean lower costs for superannuation members, Chant said.

He said fees would be charged at a fund-of-fund level rather than based on the underlying manager.

The pressure to find low-cost solutions has also been felt in the investment world.

Speaking at a Financial Services Institute of Australasia event last week, Perpetual group executive Richard Brandweiner said active strategies still had a critical role to play in a mandated super regime.

"Beta is good, but beta plus alpha is better, particularly in our market, which global investors acknowledge as a unique source of alpha, specifically for local institutional managers," Brandweiner said.

He said active strategies were also important in "screening out" portfolio risks.

Capital allocation in some investment strategies was largely determined by stock prices and not by the value of the underlying businesses, he said. These strategies heavily expose these portfolios to market sentiment.

Brandweiner said in a mandated superannuation environment fund managers had a duty of care to balance risk with return. While cost is important, investors and superannuants are also entitled to the best return.

"Beta is cheap, but price means nothing if the expense of potentially exposing investors to downside risk is too high," he said.