The financial services industry believes proposed changes to Australia's superannuation system will boost retirement savings by thousands of dollars.
Releasing its submission to a Senate inquiry into super amendments before parliament, the Financial Services Council says changes to governance rules will help reduce fees through mergers and raise "competitive tensions".
"Twenty years after the introduction of super ... there is still more work to do on superannuation fees," the council's acting chief executive Andrew Bragg said.
The changes require all regulated super funds to appoint independent directors to their boards, while increasing consumer protections across the industry.
The council's submission includes research by Rice Warner that calculated that the average 20-year-old woman who was a member of a small, inefficient fund managing less than $1 billion could be $55,000 better off at retirement if her fund merged with a larger, more efficient fund.
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Mr Bragg said fees have been reduced with introduction of new MySuper default funds, but Australians would be much better off in retirement with a more competitive super system.
More reform was needed for super to meet its purpose, but governance changes were a step in the right direction.
"If we get the market structure right, super can alleviate increasing pension and aging costs through higher retirement savings," Mr Bragg said.
