APRA advises trustees of Stronger Super obligations

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has signalled its expectations from superannuation fund trustees under new SuperStream data standards in a recent mail-out.

The letter said trustees should be proactively preparing for the new standards which require APRA-regulated funds to adhere to data and e-commerce standards for processing rollovers and accepting contributions from 1 July 2013.

The regulator said this extended beyond reviewing systems and processes to ensuring trustees "have a robust process in place to regularly review and report on the quality of member data for completeness and accuracy".

Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia chief executive Pauline Vamos said although employers were the primary source of information, APRA had made trustees' role clear and data quality would improve across the industry with the introduction of the new standards.

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The most recent ASFA-ITM data benchmark found over 20 per cent of participating ASFA members had at least one data error.

ITM general manager Steve Shoreson said SuperStream's standardisation and straight-through processing would not solve the need for clearer data.

"Trustees will now be required to demonstrate that they periodically measure the quality of data being received and applied to members' records," he said.

Vamos said funds that participated in the ASFA-ITM benchmark annually are already able to "demonstrate that they have a robust system in place".

Large and medium sized employers will be required to adopt new data standards by 1 July 2014, while smaller employers are exempt until 1 July 2015.

APRA said trustees need to focus on data items critical to the accurate and timely calculation of member benefits, including a member's full name, date of birth, address, mobile number, tax file number, the date the account was opened, the beneficiary and gender.