Trustworthy advice ISA’s policy priority
Trustworthy advice is one of five key policy priorities for Industry Super Australia (ISA), formerly known as the Industry Super Network.
The newly rebranded ISA outlined its vision for superannuation and its key policy priorities for the next five years — the provision of trustworthy financial advice, creating fairness and stability, being transparent and accountable, putting members first and driving national prosperity.
"Super should be commission-free and financial advice should be affordable, in members' best interests and appropriate to their needs," the document read.
ISA, which presented the new priorities at the policy launch in Melbourne, said the new government reforms will make financial advice more affordable and accessible.
"In the past, the financial advice industry was largely geared towards providing complex, expensive advice, primarily for wealthy clients," ISA stated in a document outlining the new policy priorities.
The association added that many super fund members didn't want a full financial plan, citing a 2009 study which shows only 14 per cent of respondents obtained ongoing complex advice from a planner.
"Instead, most want some simple guidance about one or two aspects of their super," ISA said, adding most industry super funds provided this service over the phone, by email or in the workplace.
"This type of scaled advice should continue to be encouraged by government," the document said. "Many funds also offer more detailed advice services through financial planners who are paid on a fee-for-service basis."
ISA chair Peter Collins said the community could have confidence that the policy positions taken by industry super funds were "always in the best interests of members, which is inseparable from the public interest".
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