Posts tagged product executive responsibility
QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - February 2024

The Senate Economics Committee is busy with several superannuation related bills currently being scrutinised. We expect committee reports on the Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions and Objective Bills in the coming months. The Bill which seeks to exempt trustees of APRA regulated superannuation funds from NALE tax and adjust AFCA’s jurisdiction remains in the Senate and wasn’t prioritised for debate during February, we hope to see passage soon. There was further consultation by APRA in relation to changes to the ORFR standard and guidance, and ASIC released findings concerning trustee oversight of investment performance of Choice products. There were also some interesting criminal law developments which are relevant to trustees of superannuation funds.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - January 2024

After a busy December, it was a quiet month in January with Parliament still on summer recess meaning no new legislation was introduced nor progressed.

However, the long-awaiting Final Report from the Australian Law Reform Commission was published, including 58 recommendations for reducing complexity with financial services legislation.

Additionally, Treasury moved us one step closer to mandating climate-related financial disclosures with an Exposure Draft into the regime released.

Finally, the Department of Home Affairs released a consultation into cyber-security regulation with the intention to strengthen the underlying legislation surrounding business practices.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - December 2023

There were also technical changes to keep policy wonks busy, with the ATO issuing guidance on taxation treatment of both adviser service fees and a draft determination on the deductibility of payments from a fund to the trustee to be used as a quasi-risk reserve. The long-standing deferral of the consistency requirement under s29QC of the SIS Act enters its second decade with a further two years relief.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - November 2023

There was plenty of activity in Parliament this month with three new Bills introduced, including the long-awaited Bill to legislate the objective of super. Treasury released several significant consultations, including the Government’s Sustainable Finance Strategy which incorporates the introduction of mandatory climate-related financial disclosures and supporting taxonomy. Superannuation in Retirement and Delivering Better Financial Outcomes was also released. ASIC was also busy with its enforcement activities, announcing 2024 enforcement priorities, issuing several infringement notices and receiving a successful judgement in several Federal Court cases.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - October 2023

There were several significant developments in October, with the Government released a much-anticipated consultation proposing to require employers to pay SG contributions at the same time as their employee’s wages. Additionally, the Australian Accounting Standards Board released an Exposure Draft outlining the proposed data collections for climate-related financial disclosures. This will be particularly significant for superannuation trustees as both disclosing entities and consumers of such reporting. Finally, ASIC introduced some minor exemptions for the reportable situations regime, whilst also releasing the second edition of key insights into the regime.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - September 2023

Commonwealth Parliament will sit for one week in October from 16 - 19 October. Additionally, the Crimes Amendment (Corrupt Benefits for Trustees) Bill 2023 (NSW) passed NSW Parliament and received Royal Assent on 20 September 2023. This Bill introduced an element of corruption to the offence of corrupt benefits for trustees and provides more certainty when appointing a new trustee as part of a merger of successor fund transfer.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - August 2023

The Financial Accountability Regime legislation has finally passed both Houses of Parliament, but there are still several superannuation related bills before the Senate. APRA also released the final CPS 511 Remuneration Prudential Standard.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - July 2023

APRA finalised the long-awaited Operational Risk Management Prudential Standard (CPS 230) and released draft guidance (SPG 230), and also finalised SPG 530 Investment Governance guidance. Jointly, ASIC and APRA released findings into a review of trustee implementation of the Retirement Income Covenant and separately released draft Regulator Rules for the Financial Accountability Regime.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - June 2023

After several months of little activity, we finally saw several pieces of superannuation-related legislation progressing through Parliament, including with the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort and financial reporting and auditing requirements for superannuation trustees. Additionally, the much-anticipated response to the Quality of Advice Review was released by the Government, citing acceptance of many of the recommendations made within the Report.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - May 2023

The Commonwealth budget came and went without any unexpected surprises for trustees of superannuation funds. There were, however, several important policy consultations initiated by Treasury. Two of these seek to legislate changes which would remedy “unintended consequences” of decisions in the Federal Court.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - April 2023

Parliament has been quiet in the lead up to the May Commonwealth Budget, but it was still a busy month of policy and regulatory change. Significantly, the Government announced their intention to require employer superannuation contributions to be made at the same time as the wages they relate to are paid.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - March 2023

It was a busy month for Commonwealth Parliament with three full sitting weeks for both houses. A bill was introduced to legislate superannuation contributions as a workplace entitlement, whilst Treasury released a consultation on the proposal to increase the tax payable on superannuation balances above $3m.

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Lost Members And Unclaimed Monies - Compliance And Member Retention Opportunities

Lost Member and Unclaimed Money processing requires superannuation trustees to identify members who meet specific criteria and either report or transfer the member account balances to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) twice per year. The underlying intent of each regime is to provide the opportunity for members to be reunited with their superannuation in situations where there is a risk this may not otherwise occur.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - February 2023

February was a month of significant announcements, starting with the highly anticipated release of the Quality of Advice Review Final Report. This was followed by the Government announcing the proposed objective of superannuation for consultation and proposed changes to the concessional tax treatment of high balance superannuation accounts. The Privacy Act Review Final Report was also released.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - January 2023

To the relief of large APRA-regulated trustees, the long-awaited reforms to the NALE Rules were released by the ATO for consultation. APRA also reiterated their focus on prioritising member outcomes with enforcement action initiated against a superannuation trustee.

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Reporting Data About Complaints And Internal Dispute Resolution to ASIC

It has been over a year since the new Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) came into force for Australian Financial Services and Credit licensees. This reform, in the form of Regulatory Guide 271 has changed the way in which complaints are required to be identified and managed. In this article, we summarise the main requirements and identify some key considerations for licensees to ensure preparedness for the IDR reporting regime.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - December 2022

As 2022 came to a close, key superannuation-related bills remained before Parliament, including the Financial Accountability Regime Bill. We also saw progress related to climate-related financial disclosure with Government seeking views on the design and implementation of standardised, internationally aligned requirement.

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Trustee crimes of appointment, transfer and indemnity?

The Supreme Court of New South Wales issued a judgement in Application of MLC Investments Limited [2022] NSWSC 1541 which is relevant to the issue of whether superannuation trustees are at risk of committing offences under the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) where it receives benefits in the course of changing trustee or giving effect to a successor fund transfer.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - November 2022

The Financial Accountability Regime and Compensation Scheme of Last Resort Bills have stalled in the Senate, while the faith-based product exceptions to the MySuper annual performance assessment have also been rolled into the broader review of the Your Future, Your Super reforms.

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QMV Legal Monthly Regulatory Update - October 2022

The Commonwealth Budget was the second for 2022, and thankfully, the second quiet budget for superannuation trustees.

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