Issue 741, 12 March 2020
In this issue:
- Royal commission implementation: advice fees – ASIC consultation
- New data collection solution: APRA update
- Grants of probate: Victoria moving to online system
Royal commission implementation: advice fees – ASIC consultation
ASIC has released a consultation package on advice fee consents and independence disclosure, as well as additional guidance in relation to ongoing fee arrangements for financial advice. The package relates to the implementation of several recommendations from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
The consultation package comprises Consultation Paper 329 Implementing the Royal Commission recommendations: Advice fee consents and independence disclosure (CP 329) and three draft legislative instruments.
The draft instruments are based on exposure draft legislation that was recently the subject of consultation (see ASFA Action issue 735). They set out the requirements proposed for:
- written consent to deduct, or to arrange to deduct, fees from a client account as part of an ongoing fee arrangement (recommendation 2.1) – see ASIC Corporations (Consent to Deductions-Ongoing Fee Arrangements) Instrument 2020/XX
- written consent to deduct fees from a superannuation account under an arrangement that is not an ongoing fee arrangement (recommendation 3.3) – see ASIC Superannuation (Consent to Pass on Costs of Providing Advice) Instrument 2020/XX
- written statement that discloses advice providers’ lack of independence (recommendation 2.2) – see ASIC Corporations (Disclosure of Lack of Independence) Instrument 2020/XX.
ASIC has indicated that the final form of the instruments is subject to change depending on the form of the enabling legislation, and the feedback received in response to CP 329. The instruments will not commence until the legislation takes effect.
CP 329 also seeks feedback on additional issues relating to ongoing fee arrangements, including renewal notices and fee disclosure statements. ASIC is proposing to update RG 245 in mid-2020.
ASIC is seeking public input to CP 329 by 7 April 2020 in order to ensure that the form of the proposed instruments is settled before the proposed 1 July commencement of the law reform on advice fee deductions and independence disclosure.
If you have any feedback you would like ASFA to consider in relation to the consultation package, please forward it to Maggie Kaczmarska by close of business Wednesday 25 March.
New data collection solution: APRA update
APRA has published a website update about the implementation of its new data collection system APRA Connect, which will replace the current Direct to APRA (D2A) system.
Last July, APRA deferred its implementation timeframe from March until sometime later in 2020 (see ASFA Action issue 726 for background).
APRA has now indicated that the new data collection solution will go live at the end of September 2020, with a progressive cutover of financial data reporting. Entities will be required to use both Direct to APRA (D2A) and APRA Connect in the medium term.
All entities will commence reporting entity information—such as contact details, responsible persons and related parties—on APRA Connect from September 2020.
The timing of financial data reporting on APRA Connect will vary for each industry. Financial data reporting for superannuation entities will continue to be reported through D2A but as new data collections are finalised as part of APRA’s Superannuation Data Transformation Project (see ASFA Action issues 738 and 727), these will be introduced in APRA Connect.
Grants of probate: Victoria moving to online system
As reported in ASFA Action issue 733, the Supreme Court of Victoria Probate Office will be moving to an online system for the grant of probate from 15 April.
The Probate Office has published some updated information about the new system, RedCrestProbate, on the Court’s website.
The Office has also asked ASFA to remind our members that as part of the new system, all grants of probate will be in digital form from 15 April; hardcopy grants of probate will no longer be issued.
ASFA REGULATORY WATCHLIST
ASFA’s Regulatory Watchlist (ARW) tracks developments in Legislation, inquiries, consultations
and other regulatory announcements relevant to superannuation.
