The Financial Services Council, formerly known as the Investment and Financial Services Association, has flagged an increase in the superannuation guarantee (SG) and appropriate implementation of pending industry reforms as immediate priorities on its agenda.
"Our immediate priority is to ensure that the very large amount of regulation and reform that is currently taking place in the sector be both beneficial to consumers and the industry," chief executive John Brogden told InvestorDaily.
"The Future of Financial Advice and SuperStream are two massive areas of regulatory and structural reform in the industry and we believe, if properly implemented, they'll massively benefit consumers and reduce costs and make the industry more competitive.
"So we're excited about those changes, but we want to make sure they go through properly."
The newly rebranded industry body also plans to broaden its agenda for the financial services industry by adopting an expanded mandate to more actively engage in economic policy in Australia.
"We are in very deep discussions with the government and with the bureaucracy, Treasury in particular. We want to see a stable investment environment after the next election, no matter who is elected," Brogden said.
"We want to see the SG increase to 12 per cent, which will benefit individual Australians and grow the savings pool of the country. So those are some of our initial priorities."
