The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) today expressed concern regarding the scope of the proposed framework, released today by the Productivity Commission, for assessing the competitiveness and efficiency of the Australian superannuation system.
The Productivity Commission’s report, ‘How to Assess the Competitiveness and Efficiency of the Superannuation System’, follows a Productivity Commission issues paper released on 16 March this year and a draft report released on 2 August.
ASFA CEO Dr Martin Fahy said ASFA had made submissions on both documents and would continue to work closely with industry, government and the Productivity Commission on improving outcomes for members.
“However, given there are 89 unique indicators and 22 criteria to assess in this framework, ASFA believes it will make it difficult for the Commission to draw meaningful conclusions,” he said.
“It is a challenging task to measure the efficiency and competitiveness of the superannuation system and ASFA appreciates that the Productivity Commission has recognised feedback on the need to analyse the impact of regulation.
“We have consistently demonstrated the Australian super system is world class, while acknowledging there is always room to improve member outcomes in terms of efficiency and competitiveness.
“While some of the reporting is voluntary, ASFA remains concerned the assessment process will impose an unnecessary burden on the industry in terms of additional data.
“Ultimately, higher data costs for industry are borne by members and the industry is already subject to extensive data reporting and compliance requirements.
“Around 17 per cent of the indicators will require new data to be sourced from industry.”
