Schroders Australia chief executive Greg Cooper would like to see an end to the rivalry between industry funds and the retail sector, and hopes to see more super fund trustees join the board of the Financial Services Council (FSC).
"The FSC has done great work over the years," Cooper said.
"(But) it all gets caught up in this silly debate between ISN (Industry Super Network) and retail funds and that is a debate about distribution. The FSC is much more than that.
"The FSC really is about things like unit trust pricing guidelines and liquidity in funds, et cetera. Our job is to represent the managed fund space within the industry, which is a big space."
Earlier this week, the debate between the FSC and ISN flared up when ISN published a report, based on Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data, which claimed industry funds had better performance than retail funds. However the FSC said the report was misleading.
"I think it is in the interest of consumers and superannuation for that debate to be buried," he said.
Cooper, who was appointed as deputy chairman of the FSC last week, believes the investment management and superannuation industry will move to become one industry over time and he would like to see this reflected in FSC membership.
"Ideally, I would like to see more super funds on the board of the FSC, because ideally you want to have a representation of the entire industry," he said.
Cooper also said overtime, he expected the investment management industry would be regulated by one government body, rather than existing under the current situation where super funds are regulated by the APRA [Australian Prudential Regulation Authority] and managed funds by ASIC.
"Super funds are essentially also investment houses, so it makes sense for those industries to converge. That is the next big reform."
