APRA/ASIC ‘engage’ super funds over adviser relationships
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has confirmed that a number of superannuation funds have been “engaged” over payments to third parties such as financial advisers.
The regulator revealed the engagement as part of its outline of its supervisory priorities for 2020, noting that it was area of joint supervisory focus with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
It said that during 2019 both APRA and ASIC had required all trustees to review the robustness of their existing governance and assurance arrangements for fees charged to members’ superannuation accounts.
“APRA and ASIC are engaging with individual trustees on the outcomes of their reviews, ensuring that trustees have credible plans for addressing identified weaknesses in a timely manner,” APRA said. “Industry-level findings will be made public in the first half of 2020.”
APRA said conflicts of interest was another key area of supervisory focus for it in 2020 and that it had begun an “in-depth review of selected large trustees’ management of outsourcing providers, focusing on related party arrangements and managing conflicts of interest”.
Recommended for you
With the final tally for FY25 now confirmed, how many advisers left during the financial year and how does it compare to the previous year?
HUB24 has appointed Matt Willis from Vanguard as an executive general manager of platform growth to strengthen the platform’s relationships with industry stakeholders.
Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners has announced a raft of adviser-focused updates, including a practice growth division, relaunched manager research capabilities, and a passive model portfolio suite.
When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.
