ASIC today provided an update on aspects of the Stronger Super regime aimed at providing the superannuation industry with certainty around the start dates for key superannuation reforms.
The start date for portfolio holdings disclosure reporting and choice product dashboard requirements will be deferred until 30 June 2017 to allow time for the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Transparency Measures) Bill 2016 to pass and the Federal Government further time to consult on the detail of the requirements. These requirements were due to start on 1 July 2016 and will now start on 1 July 2017.
Additionally, ASIC has extended previous relief that allows registrable superannuation entities (RSE) licensees to provide a product dashboard with a periodic statement by including a website address for the latest product dashboard, rather than requiring a hard copy of the dashboard to be included with the periodic statement.
The start date for certain disclosures required under section 29QB of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act) for standard employer-sponsored sub-plans has also been further deferred until 1 July 2017. This deferral is to give RSE licensees enough time to transition to compliance with the full requirements of section 29QB of the SIS Act. From 1 July 2017, RSE licensees must comply in full with the s29QB requirements, including for relevant sub-plans.
The deferrals will provide industry with certainty about the commencement dates of the requirements, reduce the administrative burden on industry and provide it with time to finalise their preparation for the introduction of the new requirements.
Background
The portfolio holdings disclosure obligations will require trustees of all registrable superannuation entities (RSEs) to publish information about the fund’s portfolio holdings on the fund’s website. The first reporting date is 31 December 2017.
The choice product dashboard obligations will require RSE trustees to publish key information about choice investment products on the fund’s website.
Section 29QB of the SIS Act requires RSE trustees to publish transparency information on the fund's website, including executive officer remuneration, the current trust deed, governing rules, Product Disclosure Statements and annual reports.
ASIC has issued the following instruments to reflect the aforementioned deferrals:
- ASIC Superannuation (Amendment) Instrument 2016/351, which amends ASIC Class Order [CO 14/443];
- ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2016/364, which amends ASIC Class Order [CO 14/443] and ASIC Class Order [CO 13/1534];
- ASIC Superannuation (Amendment) Instrument 2016/345 which amends ASIC Class Order [CO 14/509].