ASIC has released a regulatory guide and class order relief to assist superannuation fund trustees in providing their members with retirement estimates.

A retirement estimate is a simple, broad estimate of how much superannuation a member might receive when they retire. Retirement estimates are designed to help members think about how much money they will need when they retire, so they can start planning how to achieve this.

Superannuation fund trustees providing retirement estimates (which may be personal advice) have been granted class order relief in [CO 11/1227] Relief for providers of retirement estimates from the licensing, conduct and disclosure requirements for general and personal advice in the Corporations Act 2001.

ASIC’s guidance in Regulatory Guide 229 Superannuation forecasts (RG 229) and class order relief aims to help members engage more with their superannuation and retirement planning. These initiatives, together with tools like ASIC’s retirement planner on the MoneySmart website and receiving professional advice from licensed financial advisers, are designed to help people better understand their options and get the most out of their retirement income.

Retirement estimates and superannuation calculators play a complementary role in forecasting superannuation balances. In light of this, RG 229 also explains how ASIC’s general relief for providers of financial product calculators in Class Order [CO 05/1122] Relief for providers of generic calculators applies to superannuation calculators.

Scope of relief

To rely on ASIC’s relief a superannuation fund trustee must ensure that a retirement estimate:

• is given at the same time as the member’s periodic statement and is included in, or accompanies, the statement;

• specifies the member’s estimated retirement benefit, which is calculated taking into account all of the required variables, and using the default assumptions. These have been set based on the advice of the Australian Government Actuary; and

• sets out the mandatory content explaining how the retirement estimate has been calculated and the purpose of the retirement estimate.

Download:

• Regulatory Guide 229 Superannuation forecasts (RG 229)

• Class Order [CO 11/1227] Relief for providers of retirement estimates and explanatory statement

• Report 266 Response to submissions on CP 122 Superannuation forecasts: ASIC relief and guidance for super funds (REP 266)

• Consultation paper 122 Superannuation forecasts: ASIC relief and guidance for super funds (CP 122)