Australia: Superannuation & Funds Management - What's News - 10 February 2015

IN THE MEDIA

FOS blames PI for increasing unpaid compo
MEDIA – 6 February 2015 – The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has again pointed to the inadequacy of professional indemnity insurance, as unpaid compensation from its rulings approaches $15 million. More...

Superannuation fees not so super
ATO – 5 February 2015 – The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned employees with multiple superannuation accounts that they could be paying thousands of dollars in unnecessary fees every year. According to new figures released by the ATO, 45% of working Australians have more than one super account. More... More...

Competitive super system better off with consumer protection
ISA – 5 February 2015 – Complexity, choice overload, low levels of financial literacy, lack of planning, procrastination and high search costs, among other behavioural factors, are influencing Australians' approach to their superannuation savings, says Industry Super Australia. More...

Rash consumer behaviour demands super safety net
MEDIA – 5 February 2015 – Industry Super Australia (ISA) is urging bank-owned super funds to realise that three independent reviews ordered by two governments have concurred that the default fund super safety net is a must. More...

Which financial planning organisations will survive?
MEDIA – 5 February 2015 – Some financial planning bodies will struggle to survive in the financial planning regime evolving out of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee entailing the adviser register and the requirement for planners to be members of an appropriate professional association. More...

Future Fund smashes its performance target in 2014
MEDIA – 5 February 2015 – According to the Future Fund's latest portfolio update, the Australian de facto sovereign wealth fund earned 13.2% for the 12 months to end December compared to the 8.3% delivered by the SelectingSuper Workplace default super fund index. More...

ASIC to face legal action over Storm Financial
MEDIA – 5 February 2015 – ASIC is facing a class action for its alleged delay in taking action against Storm Financial and for allegedly acting to protect the interests of major banks, particularly the Commonwealth Bank, rather than customers. More...

Consumers need super default safety net
MEDIA – 5 February 2015 – Consumers need the protection of a default superannuation fund safety net despite calls for deregulation to increase competition, according to Industry Super Australia (ISA). More...

Blow-out warning on super tax concessions
MEDIA – 4 February 2015 – The Federal Government has been warned that the cost of its concessional tax treatment of superannuation is likely to blow out significantly from $13.4 billion in the current financial year to $25.8 billion in 2017-18. More...

Over $12.5m in claims unpaid, says FOS
MEDIA – 2 February 2015 – 30% of determinations made against wealth management firms since 2010 remain unpaid, the Financial Ombudsman Service has revealed. 26 financial service providers have been "unwilling or unable" to comply with 120 FOS determinations made in favour of consumers between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2014. More...

FOS reduces backlog but unpaid determinations climb
MEDIA – 2 February 2015 – The Financial Ombudsman Service has reduced its backlog of cases but has struggled to reduce the number of unpaid determinations with that number climbing for the third reporting period in a row to a record high. More...

Government mulls giving ASIC power to change financial planning products
MEDIA – 2 February 2015 – The New Assistant Treasurer wants to restore confidence in the scandal-ridden financial advice industry, lift the number of Australians seeking financial advice and launch a public financial adviser register by March, and is considering a controversial proposal to give product intervention powers to ASIC. More...

ASIC flexes muscles against fraud in financial services
MEDIA – 2 February 2015 – The amount of white collar crime committed in financial services almost doubled in the second half of 2014, according to ASIC's latest six-monthly enforcement report. ASIC took enforcement action against 48 cases of white collar crime related to financial services. More...

ASIC enforcement report – July to December 2014 released
ASIC – 30 January 2015 – ASIC achieved 345 enforcement outcomes. This included criminal as well as civil and administrative (e.g. banning or disqualification) actions, and negotiated outcomes, including enforceable undertakings. More...

Accountants "feeding ground" for financial advice
MEDIA – 29 January 2015 – Accounting graduates may prove the "feeding ground" for the evolving financial advice space, according to the head of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA). More...

ASIC reports on decisions to cut red tape – June to September 2014
ASIC – 28 January 2015 – ASIC has released its latest report outlining decisions on relief applications covering the period 1 June to 30 September 2014, approving 474 relief applications. More...

ABS Consultation with Industry on Superannuation Date Collection by APRA
GOVERNMENT – 27 January 2015 – The purpose of this ABS information paper is to provide information on the industry consultation process for new superannuation data reporting standards for registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensees in relation to data collected by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) for use by the ABS. More...

Superannuation data collection for the Australian Bureau of Statistics
APRA – 27 January 2015 –

Letter to RSE licensees on proposed data collection for the Australian Bureau of Statistics

Draft Reporting Standard SRS 720.0 ABS Statement of Financial Position

Draft Reporting Standard SRS 721.0 ABS Securities Subject to Repurchase and Resale and Stock Lending and Borrowing

Draft Reporting Standard SRS 722.0 ABS Derivatives Schedule

Draft Reporting Standard SRS 730.0 ABS Income and Expenditure. More...

ASIC demands more data access
MEDIA – 25 January 2015 – ASIC has called on the government to expand the controversial data retention scheme to the corporate regulator, warning that without access to troves of customer metadata it will not be able to track down insider traders and white-collar criminals. More...

[Draft] Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Measures No. 2) Bill 2015: Instalment Warrants
Amends Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 and Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
The exposure draft legislation amends the income tax law to provide look-through treatment for instalment warrants and instalment receipts. Accompanying this draft is an explanatory memorandum explaining the operation of the proposed law. 19 January 2015 – Opened for submissions / 13 February 2015 – Submissions close. More... More...

CP 227 Disclosure and reporting requirements for superannuation trustees: s29QC
Released – 19 December 2014 / Comments close – 13 March 2015. More...

Murray Report: Consultation process
GOVERNMENT – 7 December 2014 – The Government is consulting on the Inquiry's recommendations before making any decisions, and is calling for written submissions from all stakeholders. The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2015. More...

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