30 May 2008

Reduced Red Tape for Managed Investment Schemes

Senator the Hon Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, today welcomed amendments to the Corporations Regulations 2001 to reduce the regulatory compliance burden for Australia's 4500 registered managed investment schemes.

"Corporations Amendment Regulations 2008 (No. 1) removes the red tape requirement for managed investment schemes to notify the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) of their top 20 interest holders each year, as part of the annual review process."

"The requirement was of limited value as the rate of change of interest holders, especially in listed schemes, could quickly render this once-a-year disclosure obsolete."

"These amendments will reduce ASIC's administrative workload and are yet another example of how the Government is identifying unnecessary red tape burdens and systematically removing them," Minister Sherry added.

The public can still access information on scheme ownership through scheme members' registers that must be kept by all managed investment schemes, in addition to ASX disclosures.

Regulations will commence the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.