Super funds have been granted a reprieve from the uncertainty around their disclosure obligations for choice product dashboards, with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) deferring the dashboard state date as the necessary regulations still hadn’t been made.
Under ASIC Class Order 14/443, super trustees would be required to produce and disclose dashboards for MySuper products as part of the Stronger Super reforms. Despite the reforms’ beginning to take effect from 2013 however, the requirements of such dashboards still hadn’t been regulated.
The regulator amended the Class Order to defer the dashboard disclosure start date to 1 July 2023, as well as continuing a deferral of a requirement to include a dashboard in a periodic statement by allowing trustees to include a web address for the dashboard instead until that date.
ASIC reinforced that the new expiry dates were still aligned with the usual 10-year sunsetting period for legislative instruments under the Legislation Act, but warned trustees that they shouldn’t assume that the relief would continue in force for that period of time.
“[The amendments] will allow further consideration by Government of the policy position. ASIC will adjust or revoke the relief once policy positions in relation to dashboards are settled,” the regulator said in a statement.
The two funds have announced the signing of a non-binding MOU to explore a potential merger.
The board must shift its focus from managing inflation to stimulating the economy with the trimmed mean inflation figure edging closer to the 2.5 per cent target, economists have said.
ASIC chair Joe Longo says superannuation trustees must do more to protect members from misconduct and high-risk schemes.
Super fund mergers are rising, but poor planning during successor fund transfers has left members and employers exposed to serious risks.