ASFA warns on 'deadweight' compliance
Many of the disclosure requirements imposed on superannuation funds have become a millstone that have not achieved their original objectives, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).
In a submission to the Productivity Commission’s annual review of regulatory burdens on business, ASFA said that while it was satisfied that superannuation regulations had been optimised to protect members’ interests and benefits, it also believed there were a number of areas in which the current regulatory regime needed to be reviewed.
Looking at disclosure, the submission said that it had become a millstone and had not achieved many of its objectives, particularly with respect to the transfer of Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act, which had “arguably been counterproductive for the superannuation industry and has involved super funds in excessive compliance costs”.
The submission then went on to list other examples of what it described as “deadweight compliance costs” including paper-based communications, particularly annual reports, the amount of resources required to undertake the annual Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reporting process, breach reporting across all regulators and complex contribution rules.
The ASFA submission also pointed to tax and prudential law inconsistency.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
Australia's largest super fund has announced its new chief financial officer as the fund prepares for its next phase of growth.
The industry super fund has appointed a new company secretary with extensive governance experience.
The fund has launched a new campaign after finding many older tradies have lacked confidence understanding entitlements and missed pension income.
Unions and the Opposition have raised fresh concerns about APRA and ASIC’s failures amid fallout from First Guardian and Shield.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
211.16 3 y p.a(%)
2
Loftus Peak Global Disruption Fund Hedged
121.06 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
72.47 3 y p.a(%)
4
Paradice Australian Mid Cap A
69.09 3 y p.a(%)
5
Smarter Money Long-Short Credit Investor USD
68.96 3 y p.a(%)
