When events overtake outcomes
Outsider has been wondering how his old mate and erstwhile IOOF managing director, Chris Kelaher, has been getting on after standing aside in the wake of Australian Prudential Regulation Authority legal action which might see him and former IOOF chairman, George Venardos, disqualified from working in the superannuation sector.
Outsider was prompted to think about Kelaher only because the question of how superannuation funds should use the member’s reserve was raised during questioning of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in a recent sitting of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services.
And, if Outsider was reading the committee transcript correctly, then the senior executive team at ASIC seem to think that the use of the member reserve is the traditional go-to strategy for superannuation funds which find themselves in challenging situations where members have been left unexpectedly out of pocket.
Then, just a day or two later, news of an international cyber-scam broke involving the alleged siphoning of funds from members accounts and, again, it was being suggested by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia that use of the member reserves would be an appropriate mechanism for providing restitution.
Outsider feels sure that the Federal Court will ultimately decide the issue impacting Kelaher and Venardos on the facts and evidence presented, but perhaps current events might have coloured those facts and evidence if they had occurred earlier.
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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