Victims of Financial Fraud (VOFF) have again expressed their concern about the strength of regulators such as the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), this time questioning APRA’s ability to safeguard the public’s superannuation savings.
In an open letter to Ted O’Brien of the House of Representatives, VOFF alleged that Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer has downplayed the risks that weaknesses in regulators pose to superannuation savings.
Last week, O’Brien asked O’Dwyer about the action the government was taking to ensure Australians’ superannuation was protected.
O’Dwyer responded that such savings were important, but VOFF alleged that this was not a fully accurate response as she failed to mention that the Treasury and APRA could not fully disclose weaknesses in the superannuation system.
VOFF said that this was “because to do so, would allow persons with malicious intentions to identify gaps and loopholes in the legislation that limit APRA’s power as a relevant regulator”.
VOFF said it wanted to see “an honest, accurate and transparent financial system where mum’s and dad’s superannuation and investment savings are safe”.
“At the moment the regulators facilitate crimes such as financial fraud by creating a veneer of regulation without actually regulating,” the organisation said.
“This has encouraged a false sense of security among Australian investors and allowed criminals to deliberately steal life savings.”
VOFF also built on its previous criticism of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in the letter, saying that its “powers are … rendered by fraud crossing international jurisdictions”.
The group wrote to O’Dwyer regarding their concerns about the above risks to superannuation last month but had not yet received a response.
