The Corporate Super Specialist Alliance (CSSA) has claimed measures to be introduced in the federal government's proposed low-cost MySuper product will undermine plans to improve consumer engagement with their retirement savings.
CSSA president Douglas Latto said the measures would undermine the "ambition" of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services chair Bernie Ripoll.
Latto said Ripoll was reported earlier this week as saying he hoped the introduction of the Future of Financial Advice legislation would lead to more people taking a greater interest in their retirement savings and investments.
In Latto's view, MySuper runs counter to Ripoll's objective.
He said under MySuper measures, corporate super specialists would not be able to be effectively remunerated.
"If that happens, corporate super specialists will obviously have to withdraw their proactive financial services from the workplace," he said.
"What will that mean? It will mean more Australians will lose, rather than gain, interest in their retirement savings.
"We believe it is highly unlikely that product providers in the space will adopt our proactive approach to financial literacy, which will ultimately compound the problem."
A survey of CSSA members, conducted by CoreData earlier this year, found the current cost of providing financial services to corporate superannuation funds was about one dollar per member per week, he said.
"The research also confirmed our belief that if our services were not available, many employees would not actively seek out financial services education and advice," he said.
"It really doesn't make sense to introduce measures which will remove consumer access to our services."
