“I’ve spent the last year putting them on notice, but I won’t spend the next year doing exactly the same thing,” he warned, referring to funds’ repeated failures to adequately prepare customers for retirement or respond to complaints.
The education standard these staff will have to meet is not yet decided – it may be a diploma, Jones says – but ART already has a relationship with Griffith University to feed into a graduate program and Vincent suggested this pathway could help build a “qualified adviser” pool. “There’s a range of personal simple advice needs where the solution could be provided by a trained and well-monitored employee … understanding what monitoring and supervision infrastructure’s needed,” Forman says.of the major super funds, which Forman says could provide a blueprint for what monitoring is needed for this lower standard of adviser.
But the $315 billion fund’s chief retirement officer, Shawn Blackmore, agrees with Forman that digital is the future. He says his fund’s “biggest investment” ahead of the reforms coming into force is in that space.“Members want digital, bite-sized pieces about ‘what helps me in this stage’ … so it’s about making sure that’s seamless, proactive, easy to use and written in plain English .
Artificial intelligence will also be key to the superannuation industry’s advice and technology evolution. “We’re investing a lot in that … its role will be massive,” Blackmore says.