Simon O’Connor

The Australian Government’s announcement that superannuation funds will be required to disclose their holdings from 31 March 2022 has been welcomed by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA).

Under the new regulations, super funds will be required to disclose information about the identity, value and weightings of their investments, with portfolio holdings disclosure to occur every six months thereafter.

“RIAA is highly supportive of and welcomes the introduction of mandatory portfolio holdings disclosure for super funds. We have advocated for many years that portfolio holdings disclosure is a critical element of transparency and accountability for super fund members and beneficiaries,” said RIAA CEO Simon O’Connor.

“We know from RIAA’s 2020 consumer research that transparency is important to consumers and allows them to make more informed decisions about their retirement savings, with 86% of Australians expecting their super fund to disclose which companies their money is invested in.

“RIAA’s pioneering Responsible Investment Certification Program has, for many years, required all investment managers, including super funds, to disclose what they are investing in.

“Portfolio holdings disclosure is a key tenet of leading practice responsible investment, so this regulation brings us closer to what is expected globally.

“Many RIAA members already disclose their portfolio holdings and we would now expect that this sets the expectations across the market and that all fund managers will follow suit and start publishing what they are investing in.”

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[1] https://responsibleinvestment.org/aus-consumer-research/

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