The Treasury has confirmed some $70.1 million of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) levy will be for the supervision of superannuation industry.
In its ‘Proposed Financial Institutions Supervisory Levies for 2023-24’ document, APRA would have a levy of $222 million, a 3.4 per cent increase on the previous year. APRA’s increase led to total funding for all Commonwealth departments rising by 1.5 per cent.
The total funding required under the levies in 2023–24 for all relevant Commonwealth agencies (ASIC, APRA, ATO, ACCC, and Treasury’s superannuation advocate Gateway Network Governance Body) was $263.6 million.
This was a $4 million (1.5 per cent) increase from the 2022–23 requirement.
Broken down for the super industry, $41.4 million was from the restricted component and $28.7 million was from the unrestricted component, totalling $70.1 million. This was up from $61.3 million in 2022–23.
One reason for the increase was the increased time spent by APRA on superannuation activity due to the increased supervisory and enforcement intensity and the implementation of the Your Future, Your Super measures.
“In 2023–24, APRA’s supervisory activities in the superannuation industry will continue to focus on holding trustees to account to improve the member outcomes they are delivering, and to actively address deficiencies in their practices ensuring all Australians are well served by the superannuation system,” it said.
“APRA’s activities will focus on rectifying substandard industry practices such as board capabilities, tenure, management of conflicts of interest and strength of internal control systems. APRA will also focus on eradicating unacceptable product performance by continuing to make public the results of the annual performance test and MySuper and Choice Heatmaps.
“APRA will also review how trustees have implemented the retirement income covenant within their business strategies and operations, for the benefit of members, and ensure trustees take steps to address deficiencies where they are identified.”
The levy amount for Small APRA Funds (SAFs) and Single Member Approved Deposit Funds (SMADFs) would be maintained at a flat rate of $590 per fund.
The consultation is open for responses until 9 June 2023.
