Government and regulator interaction
APRA has resumed its consultation on its Superannuation Data Transformation Project. We continue to have discussions with APRA in relation to the proposed timeframe for superannuation providers to report pilot data to APRA, particularly as it is year end. This is a busy time for the superannuation industry, even more so this year because of the early release of superannuation.
Budget 2020-21 will be handed down on 6 October. We will be in the Sydney Budget lock up and will send an email to ASFA members on Budget night that summarises announcements relevant to superannuation. As our weekly Economic Snapshots show, Australia’s GDP is expected to perform better than most but the outlook remains uncertain, having implications for the Budget.
Hearings and committee meetings
ASFA will be appearing before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue in November in relation to their inquiry into the development of the Australian Corporate Bond Market.
Research and submissions
We provided a submission to the Department of Home Affairs’ consultation on protecting critical infrastructure and systems. The submission highlights that if there were to be any critical infrastructure security reforms, careful consideration would be needed to ensure they do not duplicate existing regulatory requirements and are applicable to superannuation’s operational structures.
Over the month of October, we will be busy preparing submissions to:
- the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue on their inquiry into the development of the Australian Corporate Bond Market
- APRA in relation to the Superannuation Data Transformation Project
- AFCA about their proposed amendments to its Rules about complaints impacted by the upcoming windup of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT)
- Treasury in relation to tax regulations which are due to expire early next year.
Media
ASFA released these two media releases to influence national policy debate and raise awareness of the strengths of Australia’s superannuation system:
- Ballooning business profits support Superannuation Guarantee increase.
- One-off Superannuation Guarantee amnesty clearly a success.
Our political debate event with Senator Andrew Bragg and Dr Daniel Mulino MP received media coverage from the Financial Standard, Independent Financial Advisor and Investor Daily. Debate centred on views about the superannuation guarantee increasing to 12%, superannuation investments and the early access of superannuation initiative.
During the month of October we will be hosting events about the Budget 2020-21 and Credit as an asset class. We also stand ready to provide further information about the Retirement Income Review report once it is released.
