ASFA’s submission in response to the government discussion paper Lost and Unclaimed Superannuation Money said the industry body strongly supported the measures announced to reduce unnecessary super accounts, but that the changes needed time to be effective.
“The overall view of ASFA is that the current proposed suite of reforms should be implemented, allowed to settle in and then their effectiveness reviewed prior to any further changes being contemplated or implemented,” ASFA said in its submission.
“The existing strategies for the location and consolidation of unnecessary accounts are right and, once fully implemented, will result in individuals having a better retirement outcome than they may otherwise have.”
Despite this, ASFA said that one of the keys to account consolidation was the ability of individuals to have “line of sight” of their superannuation and that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) could consider a direct engagement strategy.
“The ATO could do this by actively examining the register for individuals with multiple accumulation interest and making direct contact with those identified, providing them with information about SuperSeeker,” ASFA said.
“On the basis that prevention is better than the cure, regulations could be made requiring the name of the superannuation fund to be included on payslips.”
ASFA also recommended building games into ASIC’s MoneySmart site for high school students to making tracking super “both ‘normal’ and habitual from the time contributions are first made on their behalf”.
Furthermore, ASFA said that often lost or unclaimed super was related to poor data and that cleaning up existing data could be beneficial.
“The ATO and industry should both be taking advantage of the increased level of information being exchanged,” ASFA said.
“The opportunity should be taken to leverage off the introduction of new technology and improvements in processes that will flow from the full implementation of SuperStream to improve retirement outcomes for members.”
