The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is taking a close look at the liquidity of superannuation funds.
APRA member, Helen Rowell has confirmed to Senate Estimates this week the regulator is "progressively having a deep-dive look" at how the industry is implementing new and heightened requirements.
"We started with conflicts, management, and insurance. We are now moving to investment governance with a particular focus on liquidity," she said.
Acting committee chair, Tasmanian Liberal Senator, David Bushby asked whether APRA required funds to have daily unit pricing policies so that it could ensure that members who stayed in funds that faced asset devaluations were not disadvantaged by being left in funds with substantial write-downs.
Rowell said the regulator did not have requirements for daily unit pricing but that the vast majority of the superannuation industry had moved to daily unit pricing.
"But there are still some participants in the industry that are on less than daily unit pricing," she said.
ASFA has urged greater transparency and fairness in the way superannuation levies are set and spent.
Labor’s re-election has reignited calls to strengthen Australia’s $4.2 trillion super system, with industry bodies urging swift reform amid economic and demographic shifts.
A major super fund has defended its use of private markets in a submission to ASIC, asserting that appropriate governance and information-sharing practices are present in both public and private markets.
A member body representing some prominent wealth managers is concerned super funds’ dominance is sidelining small companies in capital markets.