Financial sector levies to rise almost $10 million
Levies on financial services institutions will rise almost $10 million to $84.8 million in 2003/04, with the superannuation, insurance and authorised deposit taking institution (ADI) sector bearing most of the additional burden.
Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer Senator Helen Coonan says that the revenues collected from each sector is expected to cover the cost of supervising that sector.
The bulk of the revenues gained through the increase will be directed to theAustralian Prudential Regulation Authority(APRA) to fund plans to employ additional technical experts and appropriately skilled front-line supervisory staff to upgrade its supervisory and IT capabilities.
Base funding for the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal, which is seeing an increase in volume of cases of 20 per cent a year, will also be increased to $6 million over four years to cater for these demands.
The tribunal is seeing an increase in volume of cases of 20 per cent each year, according to chairperson Graham McDonald, who describes the additional funding as a “a relief”.
Reflecting the higher intensity of supervision required by continued restructuring of the superannuation sector, the minimum levy amount increases to $600, the maximum levy amount jumps to $85,000 from $66,000 and the levy rate increases to 0.035 from 0.030.
Within the ADI sector, foreign bank branches and specialist credit card institutions have been separated into their own fee class due to their different supervisory requirements, and will be levied at a rate of 0.0055 per cent up to a maximum levy amount of $579,500.
For other ADIs, the maximum amount payable increases to $1.16 million from $1.12 million with the levy rate up to 0.011 per cent from 0.010.
Life insurers and friendly societies have only had an increase in the maximum levy amount, from $364,000 to $414,000, and general insurers also pay a new maximum levy amount of $414,000, previously $330,000.
Investment and Financial Services Association(IFSA) chief executive Richard Gilbert says the package didn’t deliver any suprises, with the increases in line with the Government’s policy of cost recovery.
“At the end of the day we must have strong regulation of superannuation, it must be efficiently regulated, and so this exercise has been useful and we obviously expect some more tuning going forward,” Gilbert says.
AUTHOR
Freya Purnell
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