CSSA president Douglas Latto, who is also principal of Legan Financial Services, told InvestorDaily that while he has sympathy for the reform package’s aims, he anticipates unintended negative consequences for the industry and consumers.
“The concept of looking after people that don’t look after themselves is a good idea – but there are ways of raising financial literacy which should be the focus,” Mr Latto said.
“The most important place for financial literacy to be raised for Australians is the workplace, and MySuper is just a reactive response to a lack of knowledge rather than a policy to raise standards – it is a missed opportunity.”
Mr Latto said the rules governing MySuper registration, whereby funds are prohibited from paying fees or commissions to external advisers and consultants, will mean many workplaces will lose the financial health check and literacy services often provided by corporate super advisers under the status quo, as employers may be less willing to pay for such services.
“Across the CSSA membership we provide advice services to thousands and thousands of super members each year,” he said.
“With the MySuper rules, a lot of those members will lose advice. This cements the reactive approach which fosters workplaces without advice.”
