Licensing of superannuation fund trustees is among provisions in the draft of the Superannuation Safety Amendment Bill 2003 released for industry consultation today by the Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, Senator Helen Coonan.
The Minister also announced a deferral of the commencement of the draft legislation until after the end of the transition period for the Financial Services Reform Act 2001.
The reforms contained in the draft Bill implement the Government's response to the recommendations of the Superannuation Working Group (SWG). The SWG was established by the Government to consider reforms to improve superannuation safety. The report of the SWG, together with the Government's response, was released on 28 October 2002.
"The reforms will require trustees of all superannuation funds to be licensed by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and signify an important step forward in the safety of Australians' savings for retirement," Senator Coonan said.
The draft Bill also contains measures to improve the safety of superannuation additional to those recommended by the SWG. In particular, the draft Bill proposes providing APRA with enhanced powers to address funding shortfalls in defined benefit funds.
Initially, the superannuation safety reforms were announced to commence from October 2003, subject to a two-year transition period for full compliance.
The commencement of these reforms will be deferred to April 2004. The previously announced timetable would have meant that the transition period for these reforms overlapped with the transition period for the new Financial Services Reform Act.
"In deferring the commencement of these reforms, the Government has responded to the concerns of industry about the burden of overlapping transition periods. The new timetable will allow industry sufficient time for to gear up for these important improvements," Senator Coonan said.
The closing date for comments on the draft of the Bill is 11 July 2003. The Bill will be introduced into the Parliament in Spring 2003.
The draft Bill is available from the Treasury web site: www.treasury.gov.au.
Submissions can be made to:
The Manager
Prudential Policy - Superannuation & Insurance Unit
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600
or by e-mail: ssab@treasury.gov.au