There's concern that evidence of late payments of superannuation benefits is a worrying sign of a much wider problem within the industry. The corporate regulator has placed super fund managers on notice, saying delayed and contested payments are leaving thousands of members in financial limbo and they have to do better by customers.
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00:00Reena Brooks says she's been fighting to access death benefits for about two years from her
00:07partner's Superfund, but another family member made a claim and she's still waiting to access
00:13any money.
00:14I was trying to pay mortgage at the same time and trying to get a part-time job as well,
00:22you know, just to keep my head above the water.
00:25The owner of the Superfund, MLC, Insignia Financial Group, says it's committed to processing
00:30claims as efficiently as possible and where there's no binding death benefit nomination
00:35and multiple people make claims, it can add complexity to a trustee's decision on who
00:40to pay.
00:42While Reena's case is more complex than many, it highlights how long it can take for people
00:47to access the super assets left behind when a loved one dies.
00:51Reena's lawyer wants the government to introduce mandatory timeframes.
00:55So how long it should be between you contacting your Superfund and then you getting first
00:59contact, second contact, third contact, how long between making a claim and having the
01:03claim accepted and rejected?
01:05The case follows the corporate watchdog taking superannuation giant CBUS to court, alleging
01:10it took more than a year to pay thousands of death and disability claims.
01:14The prudential regulator says Superfunds, including CBUS, have been on their radar for
01:19some time.
01:20Our key mandate is to make sure that trustees are operating in the members' interests and
01:25where we have a question on that, we will take action.
01:29CBUS chairman Wayne Swan says the funds already processed 80% of claims and plans to compensate
01:35affected members.
01:36There's been a failure to deliver services that we think customers, members of funds,
01:43are entitled to.
01:45ASIC is also investigating a number of other Superfunds.
01:50For more information, visit www.fema.gov