The Financial Services Council (FSC) and Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) have teamed up to release guidance tools to help fund managers prepare their operational due diligence (ODD) reports for the super industry.
The FSC produced a questionnaire deigned to allow managers to respond more easily to super funds’ routine DD requests, while the AIST published an ODD Guidance Note on its website.
Together, the two groups also released a frequently asked questions document to help fund managers understand what information they are expected to provide to super funds and how this would be included in the funds’ DD reports.
Both groups said that they were promoting a more collective and cost-effective ODD framework.
“The conducting of operational due diligence is labour intensive for both super funds and fund managers alike and the process is not helped by different organisations asking for similar information to be provided in different formats,” FSC chief executive, Sally Loane, said.
AIST CEO, Eva Scheerlinck, said that “the collective approach to ODD will save the industry – and ultimately super fund members – millions of dollars and lead to better quality outcomes”.
