Issue 859, 14 July 2022
In this issue:
Remuneration disclosures: APRA consultation
APRA has launched a consultation on proposed new remuneration disclosure and reporting requirements for all APRA-regulated banks, insurers and superannuation funds.
The proposed remuneration requirements will support the cross-industry Prudential Standard CPS 511 Remuneration, to strengthen remuneration practices across the banking, insurance and superannuation industries. CPS 511 was determined late last year (see ASFA Action issues 836 and 829 ) and will commence on 1 January 2023.
As part of the consultation, APRA has released:
- A marked-up amended version of CPS 511
- a discussion paper: Remuneration disclosure and reporting requirements
APRA’s key proposals are:
- APRA-regulated institutions will be required to publicly disclose information on how their remuneration arrangements are designed, and how risk is factored into remuneration outcomes for key executives. This will ensure transparency on how executives are rewarded and incentivised, and on consequences where risk is managed poorly
- large and complex financial institutions will be required to disclose how they have placed a material weight on non-financial metrics (such as risk management and conduct) and remuneration outcomes for the Chief Executive Officer, other key executives and material risk-takers
- APRA will publish centralised statistics to provide greater comparability of remuneration outcomes across APRA-regulated entities, supported by reporting requirements that are proportionate to their size and complexity
- the proposed remuneration disclosure and reporting requirements will take effect after the implementation of CPS 511 in 2023 for large entities and 2024 for smaller entities.
If you have any feedback you would like ASFA to consider in relation to the consultation package, please forward it to Helena Gibson by close of business Friday 9 September.
Government to review operation of Your Future, Your Super measures
The Government has directed Treasury to review the operation of the Your Future, Your Super (YFYS) laws after the second round of MySuper performance tests have taken place and has paused the extension of the YFYS performance test beyond MySuper products for 12 months.
The Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones MP, said that while funds must be held accountable for their performance, “accountability mechanisms must not simultaneously create perverse or unintended outcomes for members.” He said the Government is “aware of concerns that the YFYS laws have the potential to create such outcomes by discouraging certain investment decisions or certain infrastructure investments. Treasury will be tasked in its review to examine and consider the operation of the new laws in this context.”
After the completion of the second rounds of annual tests by August this year, the Review will consider whether the performance test has had any significant unintended consequences for MySuper products and assess how the test should be applied to other superannuation products. In the meantime, the Government has paused the extension of the performance test beyond MySuper products for 12 months.
The Review will also “consider whether there have been any unintended consequences from other YFYS reforms”, in particular “concerns relating to the regulatory complexity of best financial interests duty requirements”. However, the Minister has made it clear the Review will not unwind the ‘stapling’ measures or remove the requirement for trustees to meet high performance and probity standards.
Treasury will undertake public consultation as part of the Review, with details to be announced soon.
The Minister has also indicated that:
- draft legislation will shortly be released for consultation to implement the Government’s election commitment to adjust the performance test for faith based products
- consultation will soon commence on draft regulations for amendments to the annual members’ meetings disclosure requirements in the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994.
ASFA REGULATORY WATCHLIST
ASFA’s Regulatory Watchlist (ARW) tracks developments in Legislation, inquiries, consultations
and other regulatory announcements relevant to superannuation.
