The corporate watchdog is publicly calling out "sludge" in superannuation policies in a bid to end the unnecessary complexity that makes it hard for consumers to get better deals.
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Australian Securities and Investment Commission deputy chair Karen Chester told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the superannuation industry needed the scrutiny.
"We'll continue to call out unnecessary complexity in those markets. We'll also call out sludge," she told the committee in Canberra on Wednesday.
Ms Chester said the watchdog expected more from superannuation companies on their disclosures, which have traditionally been buried in fine print.
ASIC said the "sludge" was the tiny details in fine print that made it hard to switch to better deals, as consumers find it too hard to deal with.
Ms Chester said some responsible companies were doing testing with consumers themselves to get rid of complexity, and that's the direction ASIC wants the industry to go.
The committee also heard the watchdog does not necessarily check through the details of companies' climate risk statements, but does make sure they've been lodged.
Liberal MP Craig Kelly asked whether ASIC checked contradictory risk statements from companies within the same industry, and ASIC's John Price said if they existed then the watchdog would likely investigate.
Australian Associated Press
