Super Alert – 12 December 2019

12 December 2019

The items in this week’s Super Alert are APRA’s publication of the MySuper Heatmap, the introduction of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 3) Bill 2019 and release of AUSTRAC AML/CTF governance materials.

Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 3) Bill 2019

On 5 December 2019, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 3) Bill 2019 was introduced into the House of Representatives and received its second reading.

According to the Explanatory Memorandum, this Bill proposes to:

  • Amend the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to ‘defer the transitional timeframes for [financial advisers]…to comply with the education and training standards requiring completion of an approved degree or equivalent qualification (by two years) and an approved exam (by one year)’; and
  • Make various amendments to the Superannuation (Industry) Supervision Act 1993 (Cth) such as:
    • clarifying ‘when a person has been ‘involved’ in a contravention of a provision, other than an offence provision’; and
    • applying ‘the existing fee cap on low balances when a product is only held for part of an income year’; and
  • Amend the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999 (Cth) to:
    • clarify that a trustee does not need to provide information to the ATO ‘about money that ceases to be unclaimed or accounts that cease to be in-active low balance accounts or lost member accounts during the period that begins from the unclaimed money day and ends immediately before the day on which the statement is given to the [ATO]’; and
    • amend ‘the definition of inactive low balance account’ so that an account is not an ‘inactive low balance account’ if the member has elected to maintain insurance on that account’ under section 68AAA of the SIS Act.

Please click here to read more.

APRA’s MySuper Heatmap

On 10 December 2019, APRA published its first heatmap which ‘provides assessments of the performance of every MySuper superannuation product’ according to ‘three areas: investment performance, fees and costs, and sustainability of member outcomes’. In the associated information paper, APRA outlines some of the key insights, including:

  • ‘Investment outcomes are varied across the industry’;
  • ‘Underperformance is evident across all investment risk profiles’; and
  • ‘Administration fees are a more significant driver of total fees for low account balances, whereas investment fees are a more significant driver for higher account balances’.

Please click here and here to read more.

AUSTRAC releases AML/CTF governance resources

On 12 December 2019, AUSTRAC released a series of resources to assist entitles ‘ensure effective governance’ when it comes to assessing the money laundering and terrorism financing risks in their organisation. The documents are:

  • AML/CTF governance document;
  • Compliance officers checklist; and
  • Boards and senior management checklist.

Please click here to read more.

This article was written by Natalie Cambrell, Partner, Sanela Osmanovic, Associate and Joseph Cheung, Solicitor​.

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