POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
ASFA warns on 'deadweight' compliance
Many of the disclosure requirements imposed on superannuation funds have become a millstone that have not achieved their original objectives, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).
In a submission to the Productivity Commission’s annual review of regulatory burdens on business, ASFA said that while it was satisfied that superannuation regulations had been optimised to protect members’ interests and benefits, it also believed there were a number of areas in which the current regulatory regime needed to be reviewed.
Looking at disclosure, the submission said that it had become a millstone and had not achieved many of its objectives, particularly with respect to the transfer of Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act, which had “arguably been counterproductive for the superannuation industry and has involved super funds in excessive compliance costs”.
The submission then went on to list other examples of what it described as “deadweight compliance costs” including paper-based communications, particularly annual reports, the amount of resources required to undertake the annual Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reporting process, breach reporting across all regulators and complex contribution rules.
The ASFA submission also pointed to tax and prudential law inconsistency.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.
With private asset valuations emerging as a key concern for both regulators and the broader market, Apollo Global Management has called on the corporate regulator to issue clear principles on valuation practices, including guidance on the disclosures it expects from market participants.
Institutional asset owners are largely rethinking their exposure to the US, with private markets increasingly being viewed as a strategic investment allocation, new research has shown.
Australia’s corporate regulator has been told it must quickly modernise its oversight of private markets, after being caught off guard by the complexity, size, and opacity of the asset class now dominating institutional portfolios.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
92.15 3 y p.a(%)
2
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
53.24 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
43.15 3 y p.a(%)
4
DomaCom Shoreline North Coogee
36.26 3 y p.a(%)
5
GAM LSA Private Shares AU I
35.87 3 y p.a(%)
