ASIC has announced initiatives to help industry understand their regulatory obligations under the Stronger Super reforms. This follows the recent release of exposure draft legislation on the reforms.

ASIC’s announcement includes:

• a new superannuation page on the ASIC website
• a timeline of regulatory documents. 

As one of the regulators of superannuation, ASIC has developed a program to inform, educate and help industry through the implementation of the Stronger Super regime.

‘The new Stronger Super reforms are a major focus for ASIC, and our close interaction with industry through this process will help drive better outcomes for industry and their clients’, ASIC Commissioner, Greg Tanzer said.

ASIC’s new dedicated super webpage will help industry and others understand ASIC’s role in superannuation, provide information about the reforms and detail new requirements. This is in addition to extensive information available on ASIC’s MoneySmart website.

Regulatory guidance timeline

ASIC is proposing to release guidance to help industry to comply with the Stronger Super reforms. ASIC will consult directly with stakeholders at this time as well as seeking industry feedback through its usual formal consultation process.

Depending on the final passage of legislation, ASIC expects to consult by the end of 2012 on a range of issues including guidance on disclosure requirements for MySuper, on self-managed super fund (SMSF) reforms and, where appropriate, on governance reforms and SuperStream changes.

ASIC will amend existing regulatory guidance and ASIC relief to reflect the Stronger Super reforms where necessary. These consequential amendments to existing regulatory guidance may not all occur before commencement of the Stronger Super reforms.

Industry roadshows

Roadshows to discuss, face to face, the Stronger Super reforms with industry are being planned for 2012/2013. This will allow people to hear from ASIC experts about the reform’s regulatory requirements. It is anticipated the roadshows will focus on the reform’s central issue of disclosure changes. Importantly, it will also allow people to ask questions directly to the ASIC staff responsible for implementation.

Details about the dates, venues and RSVP process will be announced in coming months.

30 July 2012