APRA, ASIC to share data

The two financial services regulators are looking to share data to help improve superannuation member outcomes.

Speaking on a panel at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) conference on Thursday, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) commissioner, Danielle Press said ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) would work together on a case-by-case basis on gaps and common interest areas.

“We will look at the issues and say ‘who has the best set of tools, the best timing, the most information to tackle the issue today?’.

“We are looking to do a ‘why not share?’ program where we are looking to collect data so that we can reduce the burden on super funds. There’s nothing more frustrating than having APRA ask you for data one day and ASIC ask you for the same data at a different date three weeks later.

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“We’ve got to get better at that as regulators.  As the legislation gets passed and as we’re working with our agencies on what the jurisdictions look like and then we will be communicating to funds on how that’s going to work.”

However, Press noted that she was more concerned about gaps in the industry rather than areas of common interest.

“We will look to reduce burdens you have in areas of common interests but I won’t apologise for them because gaps are more dangerous and we saw that through the Royal Commission,” she said.

Press said ASIC was looking to increase surveillance of trustees who were not acting in the best interest of members or treating them unfairly and where there was consumer detriment and harm.

“We are aware that you as players in the industry don’t want increased regulatory burden so we are looking to make sure where there are areas of common interest we are working together but I want to be clear that we are more focused on gaps than the overlaps,” she said.