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APRA pushes for superannuation data transparency
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is consulting with industry on plans to expand the breadth and granularity of the superannuation data it publishes.
The consultation followed the completion of its first phase (Phase 1) of the APRA Superannuation Data Transformation in September, which determined 10 new reporting standards for what would and would not be treated as confidential.
Starting in June this year, APRA proposed publishing new aggregate industry, fund-level and product-level statistics containing key metrics, including improved data on insurance arrangements, expenses, member demographics and asset allocation classifications.
Where relevant, new approaches would be used to better enable comparisons across complex fee and cost structures or insurance design.
APRA’s consultation proposed most of the data collected under Phase 1 as “non-confidential”, and therefore able to be published.
It would be the first time APRA has published data on all products and investment options; until now, APRA has only published product-level data for MySuper products.
Executive board member, Margaret Cole, said APRA was determined to publish as much of the new data as possible.
“The Superannuation Data Transformation sits at the heart of APRA’s agenda to use heightened transparency to lift industry performance and improve member outcomes,” Cole said.
“While collecting better quality data across all products and investment options is essential for APRA’s ability to scrutinise the outcomes trustees are delivering for members, it’s only half the puzzle.
She said increasing the breadth, depth and consistency of the data the regulator published would help all stakeholders make better informed decisions.
“As with the MySuper and Choice heatmaps and Your Future, Your Super performance test, we also expect the increased transparency to benefit members by making it even clearer who isn’t performing and urgently needs to improve or get out.”
In addition to expanding its existing superannuation publications, APRA flagged plans to introduce two types of datasets for users to access published statistics in a format that was easily consumed by their own reporting tools:
- Key metrics datasets which primarily mirror the statistics in the publications without formatting; and
- Granular datasets for sophisticated users to access more detailed data in a format that closely resembles the data as reported.
Following an eight-week consultation, the regulator said it intended to issue its final determinations around data confidentiality in June, with the first statistical publication under the new reporting standards released soon after.
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