The Government Actuary Geoff Rashbrooke would like to see his office have the power to remove trustees of registered superannuation schemes.
He told the Association of Superannuation Funds conference in Auckland on Monday that wanting removal powers over trustees is "born out of frustration".
Trustees often approach the actuary for help when conflict strikes, however there is little the office can do, no matter how big the problem.
"We know of situations where trustees did something which is basically abhorrent (in trust terms)," he says.
However, the actuary is reduced to writing letters and "coaxing" trustees to work together.
The conflict situations often arise with employer sponsored schemes where there are trustees representing the employees and the employers.
Often the problems arise because the employer trustees want to do something that benefits the company, as opposed to the scheme members.
Rashbrooke says this can be over ownership of any surplus in a scheme, or more recently windfalls from insurance company demutualisations.
In these cases the company might try to pocket the profit from the sale of life office shares acquired from policies that are taken out to cover scheme members.
"This is starting to be a bit of an issue," he says.
Rashbrooke says schemes are established to secure benefits for members, not as tools for the employer.
Although there are a reducing number of employer sponsored schemes the number of complaints hasn't decreased proportionally.
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