Government should extend controls to investment plans

THE emphasis of many of the government regulations relating to superannuation and the use of do-it-yourself types of funds has been to ensure that the prudential regulations about member representation, etc have been attended to.

Little or no regard has been paid to the investment strategy and the outcome of the strategies employed.

The latest APRA figures indicate that there are 192,245 do-it-yourself funds in Australia.

That represents a growth of 50,000 funds over the last twelve months.

The assets held by these funds amount to $54 billion and comprise 12.5 per cent of all assets held in superannuation in Australia.

Given the rather poor returns being achieved, perhaps the government should extend their prudential controls to look, not just at the nature of the investments being undertaken, but also the other aspects of the investment strategy.