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Consultation (Treasury)
Quality of Advice Review - Terms of Reference Published
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Consistent with recommendations 2.3, 2.5 and 2.6 of the Final Report of the Hayne Royal Commission, the Government is commissioning this Review which will consider how the regulatory framework could better enable the provision of high quality, accessible and affordable financial advice for retail clients. The Review (‘QAR’) will not make recommendations on:
- professional standards for financial advisers
- Royal Commission Recommendations 2.7 to 2.10
- changes to the definitions of ‘retail client’, ‘wholesale client’, and ‘sophisticated investor’
- financial services redress arrangements or
- the application of taxation and privacy laws to financial advice
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Released 11 March 2022.
A report will be provided to the Government by 16 December 2022.
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Consultation (APRA)
Strengthening Financial Resilience in Superannuation
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APRA is seeking to gain further insights on sources of funding for RSE licensees, the use of the operational risk financial requirement (ORFR), reserving practices, protections afforded to trustees via insurance, provisioning for contingency expenditure items, and how these might need to adapt over time.
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The Consultation period was opened on 19 November 2021 and closes on 11 March 2022 (on the APRA website it is listed as ‘Open’ as at the date of preparation of this update).
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Consultation (APRA)
Strengthening crisis preparedness
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On 2 December 2021, APRA released for consultation a discussion paper and two draft prudential standards to strengthen crisis preparedness across banks, insurers and superannuation trustees.
Draft Prudential Standard CPS 190 Financial Contingency Planning introduces requirements for all APRA-regulated entities to develop contingency plans to respond to financial stress by either recovering their financial resilience or exiting APRA-regulated activities in an orderly manner.
Draft Prudential Standard CPS 900 Resolution Planning requires large or complex entities, or those that provide critical functions to the economy, to be prepared for resolution to minimise the impact on the community and the financial system.
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Consultation commenced on 2 December 2021 and closes 29 April 2022.
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Consultation (APRA)
Prudential Standard SPS 530 Investment Governance in Superannuation
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The proposed revisions to SPS 530 respond to findings from APRA’s unlisted asset valuation thematic review and APRA’s 2018-2019 post-implementation review (PIR) of the superannuation prudential framework.
The proposed updates focus on enhancements to stress testing, valuation and liquidity management practices. This consultation will run until 16 February 2022.
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Consultation was commenced on and from 29 September and closes (according to the APRA website) on “Second Semester of 2022”. On the APRA website it is listed as ‘Pending’ as at the date this update was prepared.
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Consultation (Treasury) & (Board of Taxation)
Crypto asset secondary service providers: Licensing and custody requirements &
Review of the Tax Treatment of Digital Assets and Transactions in Australia
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The Government has announced consultations and inquiries for digital transactions and crypto assets.
On 21 March, the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and the Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy, Jane Hume, jointly announced that:
. the Government has released a paper seeking industry’s feedback by the end of May on proposed new crypto asset licensing and custody requirements, and covering the first stage of a broader token mapping exercise to be completed by the end of 2022;
. the Government has released the terms of reference for a review by the Board of Taxation into the appropriate policy framework for the taxation of digital transactions and assets such as crypto (which is being conducted on the basis it will not increase the overall tax burden). The Board has been asked to complete its review by 31 December; and
. the Government will release terms of reference covering its request for advice from the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) on potential policy responses to address the issue of de-banking for financial technology firms, digital currency exchanges, and remittance providers. The CFR has been asked to provide advice to the Government by the end of June 2022.
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Treasury Consultation was opened on 21 March and closes on 27 May 2022.
The Board of Taxation Terms of Reference were released on 21 March with a view to “report back to the Government by the end of 2022”
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Discussion Paper (APRA)
Direction for data collections
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On 31 March 2022, APRA released its discussion paper on its direction for data collections which sets out APRA's changing approach to data collection, the rationale for these changes and an outline of the implementation roadmap.
APRA has outlined plans to collect richer data on APRA Connect, its new data collection system. The proposed collections will enable APRA and peer agencies to deliver deeper insights, while ultimately reducing the burden for industry. The transition will be completed by the end of 2027 allowing APRA to fully decommission the Direct to APRA (D2A) data collection tool.
The roadmap details the proposed timing for each regulated industry moving all of its data reporting across to APRA Connect, as well as plans to introduce a series of new data collections.
APRA intends to engage closely with entities and other key stakeholders on the proposed roadmap and encourages written submissions by 24 June 2022.
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Discussion Paper issued 31 March 2022
APRA ‘encourages’ written submissions by 24 June 2022
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Consultation (APRA)
Proportionality and significant financial institutions
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A letter was issued to all APRA-regulated entities on 4 April 2022 regarding proposed changes to the Prudential Standards which differentiate requirements for Significant Financial Institutions (SFIs) and non-SFIs.
Amendments may be made to Superannuation Prudential Standards which use the SFI/non-SFI concept. This distinction has been used for some time to inform the Regulator’s level and intensity of scrutiny.
APRA does not expect the proposed changes to qualitative criteria to materially alter the intended application of the SFI regime.
Significant financial institution (SFI) means an RSE licensee that either:
(a) has total assets in excess of AUD $30 billion in the case of a single RSE operated by an RSE licensee, or if the RSE licensee operates more than one RSE where the combined total assets of all RSEs exceeds this amount; or
(b) is determined as such by APRA, having regard to matters such as complexity in its operations or its membership of a group.
Non-significant financial institution (non-SFI) means an RSE licensee that is not a significant financial institution.
CPS 511 – Remuneration has also been identified as a ‘candidate’ for alteration – a draft of the amended Prudential Standard is available as part of the consultation.
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Consultation opened 4 April 2022
Submissions close 2 May 2022.
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