Issue 793, 17 February 2021
In this issue:
- Your Future, Your Super Bill introduced
- Consumer remediation guidance: ASIC consultation – reminder
- Modernising business communications: consultation – reminder
Your Future, Your Super Bill introduced
The Government has introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Future, Your Super) Bill 2021 (the YFYS Bill), which implements the Your Future, Your Super reforms announced in the October 2020 Federal Budget (see ASFA Actions 778 and 785 for further background).
The Your Future, Your Super reforms contain the following elements:
- The requirement that where a new employees is ‘stapled’ to an existing superannuation fund and does not choose a fund to receive contributions, their employer is required to make contributions on behalf of the employee into the ‘stapled’ superannuation fund.
- Addressing underperformance in superannuation by requiring APRA to conduct an annual performance test for MySuper products and other products to be specified in regulations.
- A Best financial interest duty requiring superannuation trustees to act in the best financial interests of their members when they undertake the many actions involved in operating a superannuation entity.
The YFYS Bill differs from the Your Future, Your Super exposure drafts in a number of respects. Key differences include:
- Portfolio Holdings Disclosure – The exemption for trustees from disclosing information under the portfolio holdings disclosure rules for up to five per cent of superannuation holdings will no longer apply.
- Clarification of employer obligations under the Single default account and the Addressing underperformance in superannuation regimes and where the employee is a member of certain Commonwealth superannuation funds.
- Further details about the regulation-making powers for the annual performance assessment.
- A requirement for notification of underperformance by trustees to beneficiaries to be made by pre-paid post or courier, and electronically where that is possible.
- Clarification of the roles of the regulators in supervising the Your Future, Your Super.
Consumer remediation guidance: ASIC consultation – reminder
As reported in ASFA Action issue 786, ASIC has released Consultation paper 335: Consumer remediation: Update to RG 256 (CP 335), which seeks feedback on proposed updates to Regulatory Guide 256: Client review and remediation conducted by advice licensees.
If you have any feedback you would like ASFA to consider in responding to ASIC’s CP 335, please forward it to Maggie Kaczmarska by close of business Monday 22 February.
Modernising business communications: consultation – reminder
As reported in ASFA Action issue 789, the Treasury has released a consultation paper on modernising business communications with a focus on Treasury portfolio laws including the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 and the Corporations Act 2001.
If you have any feedback you would like ASFA to consider in responding to Treasury, please forward it to Maggie Kaczmarska by close of business Monday 22 February.
ASFA REGULATORY WATCHLIST
ASFA’s Regulatory Watchlist (ARW) tracks developments in Legislation, inquiries, consultations
and other regulatory announcements relevant to superannuation.
