IFS rejects Parliamentary accusations

Industry Fund Services (IFS) has vehemently rebutted a barrage of stinging accusations directed at it by South Australian Liberal back-bencher Grant Chapman, who used parliamentary privilege in a speech incorporated into Hansard late last week, to slam the industry superannuation fund service provider.

IFS executive chairman, Garry Weaven dismissed the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Chapman's attack as "complete and utter rubbish", and called on the Senator to repeat the allegations in public.

"I would dearly love to have a public discussion with him [Chapman] to enter into a public debate or dialogue in relation to all of the allegations," Weaven says.

The speech which was incorporated into Hansard at 2am on June 24 claimed IFS demonstrated poor accounting standards and lacked transparency in respect to fees and questioned the level of income derived by the IFS Staff Equity Trust (SET).

However Weaven, who is willing to go through the speech line by line to demonstrate its inaccuracies, says the nature of the attack is underhand.

"For somebody to contact the media, given the time it came out, it almost certainly tells you they are lacking in any integrity and have some motive which I'm not aware of," Weaven says.

Weaven is baffled by the allegations, as he says IFS has never claimed to be a mutual superannuation fund, and has always been for profit.

"The most rudimentary check could tell Chapman that we're not a superannuation fund, we're a private company service provider to the financial sector and superannuation industry," he says.

Senator Chapman says he will refer the matter to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Ross Cameron, and stood by his speech in saying; "These matters are issues that have been raised by my constituents and while I rely on the veracity of the information they give to me I've also had someone doing research to verify as much as of the information as possible".

However Weaven confirms he previously stated publicly that IFS briefed the Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority (APRA) ahead of its restructure earlier this year, which saw industry funds affiliated with IFS buy-out the remaining staff equity in the Staff Equity Trust and IFS take ownership of the Development Australia Fund (DAF) and AUSfund.

"The claim that APRA and ASIC have some beef with us is total nonsense."