The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has approached the Department of Treasury asking whether it can resolve discrepancies which have been identified between the regulatory regimes of APRA and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
APRA’s General Manager, Tony Randle used the opening day of the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds to confirm the approach to Treasury following criticism levelled by two industry spokesmen.
Randle’s confirmation came after problems associated with the regulatory discrepancies were highlighted by the administration manager of major superannuation fund, REST, Damian Hill.
Hill pointed out that what represented a breach in terms of the ASIC guidelines did not necessarily represent a breach in terms of the APRA guidelines and that this was something that needed to be resolved.
Hill said that trustees needed to understand the differing approaches adopted by the two regulators and that this could be overcome by both organisations adopting a unified approach.
Hill’s criticism followed that of the chief executive of HESTA, Ann-Marie Corboy who bemoaned a lack of consistency between the various state officers of APRA.
Corboy said that as part of the APRA licensing process HESTA had encountered differing interpretations between the state offices of APRA and between various APRA officials.
“APRA needs to ensure consistency between state offices and between the messages being issued by individual offices,” Corboy said.
