Issue 725, 29 October 2019
In this issue:
- Portfolio holdings disclosure: ASIC deferral
Portfolio holdings disclosure: ASIC deferral
ASIC has deferred the first reporting date under the portfolio holdings disclosure (PHD) regime until 31 December 2020.
The PHD regime was introduced into the Corporations Act 2001 in 2012 as part of the Stronger Super reforms. The regime will require most superannuation trustees to publish investment holdings information on their websites within 90 days of each ‘reporting day’ (being 30 June or 31 December each year), however regulations setting the form and detailed content of the PHD reporting have never been finalised.
In the absence of this detail, ASIC issued Class Order [CO 14/443] in 2014 to effectively defer the regime prior to its intended commencement date. ASIC has continued to extend that deferral via a series of amending instruments, the most recent of which specified 31 December 2019 as the first reporting day for the regime (see ASFA Action issue 632).
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Improving Accountability and Member Outcomes in Superannuation Measures No. 1) Act 2019, which took effect on 5 April 2019, amended some aspects of the PHD regime, by:
- simplifying the requirements
- introducing exemptions for specific entities and types of holdings
- revising the first reporting day in the legislation to 31 December 2019, to align with the date specified in CO 14/443.
However, regulations are still required to finalise the detail of the PHD reporting requirements.
ASIC has now registered the ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2019/1056, deferring the first reporting date under the PHD regime for a further 12 months, until 31 December 2020.
According to the explanatory material accompanying Instrument 2019/1056, the amendment:
- allows further time to develop and make regulations
- does not represent a policy view by ASIC in relation to the application of the PHD requirements or a view as to the time likely to be taken by Government in settling a policy view.
ASFA REGULATORY WATCHLIST
ASFA’s Regulatory Watchlist (ARW) tracks developments in Legislation, inquiries, consultations
and other regulatory announcements relevant to superannuation.