ASIC has provided relief in relation to the requirement for trustees of superannuation funds to provide certain additional information in exit statements given on or after 1 July 2006, in cases where members exit the fund on or before 30 June 2006 as part of the fund’s winding up.
ASIC class order [CO 06/538] Relief from enhanced disclosures in exit statements relieves trustees from the requirement for the exit statements to those members to contain the enhanced fees and costs disclosure described in the Corporations Amendment Regulations 2005 (No.1).
The relief responds to industry concerns, raised with ASIC, in relation to the interaction of the requirement for the additional information in exit statements given on or after 1 July 2006 and the exit of members from funds as part of the wind-up of superannuation funds ahead of trustee licensing under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS).
It applies to the requirement for an exit statement given on or after 1 July 2006 to contain a transaction listing and disclosure of the effect of indirect costs on a member’s benefits. All other requirements for detailed disclosure in exit statements remain.
‘The relief assists trustees to complete their fund’s wind-up and departure from the superannuation industry in the most equitable manner’, ASIC’s Director of Applications and Licensing, Mr John Price, said.
‘Costs incurred by trustees in the additional material in the exit statements would be recovered from members’ benefits and systems changes to support additional disclosure would only be used once before the wind-up of the fund’, Mr Price said.
‘The requirement for the additional material only in exit statements given on or after 1 July 2006 also raised the potential for some anomalous results in the wider circumstances of many trustees transferring members before 30 June 2006 ahead of the APRA superannuation trustee licensing deadline. For example, where some members of winding up funds would require additional information in an exit statement while others would not. The relief provided under the class order removes the effect of these unintended results’, Mr Price said.
Background
The full effect of the superannuation trustee licensing and fund registration provisions of the SIS Act commenced on 1 July 2006. The Registrable Superannuation Entities (RSE) licensing system has prompted some superannuation fund trustees to wind-up their funds and exit the superannuation industry by 30 June 2006.
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