A PROPOSAL to have employers accelerate paying their workers' superannuation from quarterly to monthly could add $220 million a year to retirement savings.
The recommendation to force employers to deposit their staff's contributions more frequently is one of a package of ''back office'' changes proposed in the latest report by superannuation system review chief Jeremy Cooper.
In the report, he said independent research by Rice Warner had estimated that super fund members could earn up to $2.2 billion over 10 years if employers invested their funds sooner and used electronic transfers.
Unveiling the ''SuperStream'' changes yesterday, Mr Cooper also endorsed financial penalties for employers who fail to shift from old-fashioned cheques to electronic depositing of employee contributions. He said last night he had not quantified how much the additional fee for each cheque would be.
According to the report, a startling 60 per cent of companies still pay some, or all, of their super commitments using cheques - contributing to significant cost and processing delays.
''Fully 38 per cent of businesses use only cheques and 22 per cent use a combination of cheques and electronic payments,'' the report said.
Mr Cooper also said that the Tax Office should make available by June next year a website for individuals to log on using their tax file numbers to see what fund memberships they have, and how much money is in them.
The final phase of Mr Cooper's review is due to be handed to the federal government on June 30.
IAN McILWRAITH
