The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has called for the introduction of nationally mandated data payment standards overseen by a standards governance body, in the wake of the Federal Government introducing draft legislation to allow the use of Tax File Numbers (TFNs) as a primary identifier.
ASFA chief executive Pauline Vamos said that while the TFN move was welcome as a first step in implementing the SuperStream recommendation flowing from the Cooper Review, it represented only a partial solution — with the nationally mandated data payments standards representing the greater step forward.
“Super must, and needs to, have its own governance body in regards to data and payment standards,” Vamos said. “The banking and accounting industries have similar bodies, and it is now time for the superannuation industry to also have one in recognition of its footprint across the economic landscape.”
The Government’s move on the TFN legislation was welcomed by both the Financial Services Council (FSC) and the Industry Super Network (ISN), with FSC chief executive John Brogden saying the use of TFNs would allow simpler account consolidation.
ISN chief executive David Whiteley said the use of TFNs would go a long way towards improving the quality of member information and assist in reducing multiple and assist in fund-to-fund rollovers.
The chief executive of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), Fiona Reynolds, also regarded the TFN move as just a first step.
“We see it only as a good first step. There is more to be done,” she said.
“This bit of legislation doesn’t answer the question about how a super fund will know they’ve got the right one (ie, what will be the verification process?). It can currently take a year to get a response to TFN verification, whereas ABN verification is real-time — we need same for TFN. If we’re to solve the lost super issue with TFN verification there must be a real-time identification solution online,” Reynolds said.
