A new era of faster, more efficient and cost effective rollovers of super benefits has begun with the first exchange of information using the online processing capabilities developed under the SuperEC program.
Colonial First State Investment Managers and BT Financial Group became the first participants of the SuperEC program when they exchanged live transactions late last year after the development of member rollover standards.
Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) CEO Lynn Ralph says after two years of hard work, the focus has progressed from transforming the concept into reality and dispelling the myths surrounding it, to expanding SuperEC activities and extending it across the entire super industry.
“Just like when the four minute mile was originally broken, everyone said it couldn’t be done. But once it had been achieved, many followed,” Ralph says.
AMP will be the third fund to offer full electronic capabilities, deploying its system by the end of the first quarter of this year. The financial services giant was initially expected to go live late last year but according to a spokesperson, it was delayed because it is still testing a number of components.
Ralph says rollovers were the first to be standardised because of their high transactions volume. The next stage will be the rollout of Registration and Contribution Standards in the first quarter of this year.
This will be followed by the development of Bulk Transfer standards, the implementation of the SPIN (Superannuation Product Identification Number) register, moves that will include new participants and the further involvement of payroll and software developers.
Ralph says the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Australian Taxation Office will use the SPIN Register for super reporting and e-commerce, following an agreement that is expected to boost SuperEC’s development.
A permanent body will also be established later this year to further promote adoption of the standards, to monitor compliance with the standards by new participants, to manage the SuperEC Trading Community, and to provide services to SuperEC members.
Among the participants that have been involved in the program from the beginning are AM Corp, ANZ, ComSuper, JIMFA, ING, National Funds Management, QSuper, Pillar (formerly SAC), NRMA, UniSuper, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and Tyndall/Royal & SunAlliance.
Other participants include software developers, intermediaries like EC-Pay, APIR Systems and NEIS, and payroll service providers Aussie Pay, ADP Employer Services and National Payroll Services.
The payroll service providers are expected to comply with SuperEC Registration and Contributions standards by year-end. By then, the first end-to-end information transfer between payroll providers and super fund administrators will also be achieved.
Another goal is to encourage software vendors to develop software that is compliant with SuperEC standards.
“We need the support of software companies because they provide the software integration from the front-office into the back-office systems,” Ralph says.
She believes that many of the tools and standards developed for SuperEC will also be adopted by non-super parts of the funds management industry, and notes that this has the potential to deliver enormous cost savings and lead to consistency across the business.
SuperEC, which should be fully implemented by 2004, is expected to reduce administration costs across the super industry by up to 30 per cent.
