APRA makes changes to reporting obligations

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has moved to reduce the compliance burden of super funds under its watch by changing a definition and cutting back on heavily-criticised duplication in reporting requirements.

After a series of submissions from stakeholders about onerous standards on ‘select investment options', APRA says it has reduced the number of options funds must report on by around 50 per cent, by only targeting funds with quantitative thresholds above $200 million or five per cent of total fund assets.

It has also removed the obligation for funds to report both annually and quarterly, retaining the quarterly requirement, it said in a statement.

The changes followed criticism from funds about the onerous nature of reporting requirements of select investment options and the potentially confusing definition of what qualifies as a select option, which has also now been clarified.

"APRA is confident that the final requirements strike the right balance between APRA and other stakeholders having access to necessary information, and addressing industry's concerns about the costs and complexity involved in reporting this information," APRA member Helen Rowell said in response to the changes.