Super execs face RC grilling on travel and marketing

Superannuation fund executives and directors face having to explain to the Royal Commission their travel and accommodation expenses over the past five years together with how those expenditures benefited members.

Correspondence received by superannuation funds and sighted by Super Review has confirmed the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has sought highly specific information about administration expenses.

The information being sought by the Royal Commission will succeed in having funds reveal not only what they pay their most senior executives but also what has been spent by those executives in terms of travel and entertainment.

Included in the range of expenses specified in the Royal Commission documentation are “entertainment, accommodation, airfares and taxis and parking”.

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The Royal Commission has also sought information on marketing expenses “including brand development, sponsorships, advertising, or other marketing for the purpose of recruitment or member retention”.

Where marketing expenses are concerned, the Royal Commission has sought details of service providers over the past five years, together with “the process by which marketing expenses are approved and which individuals have authority to approve such expenses”.

It then asks the funds to “set out the process by which the benefits or returns obtained in relation to marketing expenses are assessed, including any auditing, benchmarking or other appraisals to assess the value of such expenditure and the performance of the relevant service provider”.

The Royal Commission documentation then asks the funds to explain how the expenditures satisfied the so-called sole-purpose test within the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act and with respect to whether they were in the best interests of members.