ASFA in Focus October 2020

Budget 2020-21 | Government and regulator interaction | Research and submissions | Media | Events and Learning

Budget 2020-21

Glen McCrea, ASFA’s Deputy CEO and Chief Policy Officer, discusses all things Budget 2021-21 in this video.

Government and regulator interaction

The “Your Future, Your Super” reforms announced in the Budget 2020-21 will change the architecture of Australia’s superannuation system. We have shared ASFA members’ concerns about these reforms with Senator Hume and Treasury.

We are concerned that the ‘Holding Funds to Account’ measure, that is part of these reforms, will have unintended consequences and undermine confidence in the system. As an alternative, we have proposed applying a one-off ‘Lifting the Bar’ assessment to Government and Treasury.

Research and submissions

In preparation for our appearance before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue on 6 November, we provided a submission outlining our views on the development of the Australian Corporate Bond Market and what role APRA-regulated superannuation funds as investors can play. In our estimation, holdings of Australian corporate bonds by superannuation funds total around $60 billion.

We also provided a submission to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) about the change to the AFCA rules to allow AFCA to deal with the remaining complaints from the SCT and any matters before the Federal Court.

Media

Our proposed one-off ‘Lifting the Bar’ assessment was featured in an Aleks Vickovich AFR article. Further commentary was provided on our proposed assessment in a separate Michael Roddan AFR article.

We also provided comments to the Financial Times about Minister Hume’s statements relating to superannuation funds investment in infrastructure and renewable energy, and to the Brisbane Times about our work with the regulators to better protect the super framework against fraud.

The ASFA Retirement Standard continues to be a popular media piece, with the Money magazine sharing six tips on how to improve retirement lifestyle based on the comfortable standard.

Events and Learning

Don’t miss our ASFA Briefing: APRA Heatmap event on 17 December, where Helen Rowell, Deputy Chair APRA, will discuss with Glen McCrea the 2020 MySuper Product Heatmap.

Over the month of November, our ASFA Learning team is also running virtual workshops on topics such as RG 97, RG 271 and RG 146.

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