Super reforms one step closer
The government has moved closer to implementing a new disclosure scheme that would shed light on where the nation’s $3 trillion compulsory superannuation system is investing.
The government has moved closer to implementing a new disclosure scheme that would shed light on where the nation’s $3 trillion compulsory superannuation system is investing its members’ money.
Treasury on Tuesday announced a second round of consultations on draft regulations around portfolio disclosure obligations, which will require trustees to make publicly available information relating to every investment they hold, including the value of each investment.
Until now, super funds have laid out only in broad strokes where members’ money is invested, usually as a broad asset allocation. For example, a fund might say a certain proportion of its total assets were in Australian shares but not which companies.
Under the new regulations, fund members, analysts, academics and regulators will be able to scrutinise investments down to an individual level.
An enhanced transparency scheme was first recommended in the Super System Review of 2010 (known as the Cooper review), and will be implemented later this year once the second round of consultations close.
Super funds are expected to make their first disclosures by the middle of next year.
The first consultation round on the new regulations triggered several updates, including mandating that the information provided by super funds should be easily downloadable from their websites in an accessible format.
The new rules will bring superannuation disclosure in line with major markets such as the US, where pension funds release hundreds of pages detailing individual investments held.
The superannuation industry has resisted providing the extra information, partly on the basis it risked revealing information that was commercially sensitive.
The Cooper review found “systemic transparency is what is largely missing in the Australian super system”.
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