Hodge staples super
A single superannuation account at a single fund, per person, for life is on the agenda of the financial services royal commission.Michael Hodge, counsel assisting, used his brief closing address on Friday to outline "an example that might assist to remove or mitigate temptations for [misconduct by] trustees", an idea he labelled as "stapling."Stapling, Hodge said, "means consumers are attached to a single superannuation account and do not end up with new accounts each time they change jobs, which might reduce the incentive for superannuation trustees to wish to maintain low balance members."Hodge also agitated for commissioner Kenneth Hayne to consider "what can be done to encourage the regulators to act promptly on misconduct or potential misconduct."He questioned "the present allocation of regulatory roles", asking if these were "appropriate to achieve specific and general deterrence from misconduct". "Given that what we are fundamentally concerned with is conduct that in subtle but ongoing ways negatively affects the retirement outcomes of consumers, are either of the regulators [APRA or ASIC] best placed to carry the responsibility to protect consumers should the balance between them be restructured or significantly altered?" he asked.Hodge also called for new laws that "impose obligations on the shareholders of trustees to exercise powers under their constitution, or when otherwise acting in relation to the trustee, to do so in the best interests of the members."Hodge used his closing to explain why two entities - Sunsuper and Mercer - were not called in the recent round of hearings, despite being listed for case studies.In relation to Sunsuper, Hodge said that "investigations continued in relation to it over the last two weeks, and we concluded that the issue that was raised there was of insufficient general application to warrant consideration orally. "And in relation to Mercer, the issue ultimately we determined didn't go beyond something that had already been addressed publicly in a news report and shortly before the commencement of the hearings we received a submission from Mercer acknowledging that the conduct or some aspects of the conduct may fall below community standards and expectations."