Government and regulator interaction
We recently met a number of members of Parliament to discuss:
- Your Future, Your Super Bill
- Retirement Income Review, and
- Our Pre-Budget submission
Overall, the discussions were positive. Although there are still forthcoming challenges, particularly in relation to the Your Future, Your Super Bill, we remain hopeful that our concerns will be heard and considered as the Bill goes through Parliament.
Research and submissions
We provided our Pre-Budget 2021-22 submission to Treasury where we suggested that:
- the LISTO threshold be raised from $37,000 to $45,000
- the threshold for imposition of the additional Division 293 tax be reduced by a modest amount from the current $250,000
- those members aged 65 or older with a total superannuation balance as at 1 July 2022 in excess of $5 million could be required to withdraw the excess out of superannuation
- the indexation of the transfer balance cap be removed to reduce complexity
- the primary objective of the retirement income system be recognised in legislation
- a Retirement Income Covenant be inserted into the SIS Act
- innovation of retirement income solutions be supported through safe harbour legislation and extending successor fund transfer regime to all retirement income strategies
- the SG regime be extended to self-employed people
- existing superannuation settings be enhanced to help boost superannuation balances of workers with broken work patterns
- SG contributions be paid at the same time as wages.
We also provided a submission to APRA in response to their revised draft prudential standard CPS 511 Remuneration. Some suggestions we made include: Ensuring CPS 511 mirrors the forthcoming Financial Accountability Regime (FAR), clarifying how references to ‘group’ apply to RSE licensees and clarifying the tax treatment of clawback and deferral amounts.
In our submission to ASIC in response to their request for feedback on revised internal dispute resolution data reporting requirements, we highlighted the need for clarity around several data elements, and for adequate implementation time once the requirements are finalised. We also recommended that reporting commence on a six-monthly basis, rather than quarterly.
Other submissions drafted in February include to:
- ASIC in response to their consultation paper on consumer remediation
- Treasury in response to their consultation paper on modernising business communications
- the Board of Taxation in response to their consultation paper on capital gains tax roll-overs.
Media
Our Pre-Budget submission was featured in a Glenda Korporaal article in The Australian.
The February ASFA Conference garnered quite a bit of media attention, including an article on GNGB’s cyber security report, released during the Conference. There were also articles around the each of the following speakers’ sessions:
Events and Learning
Don’t miss our upcoming ASFA Policy Roadshow during the last week of March! The ASFA Policy Roadshow will have presentations from all the regulators and Treasury.
During the month of March we’re also delivering the following learning virtual workshops:
