By Mark Bland, Partner, Stephen Putnins, Partner, Matthew Farnsworth, Partner, Geoffrey McCarthy, Special Counsel, Sheridan Handley, Senior Associate, Emma Higgs, Senior Associate, Vijay Adithya, Lawyer, Amiinah Dulull, Lawyer and Jules Ionnidis, Lawyer.

Key developments

The Government has proposed changes to reduce educational requirement for experienced financial advisers and tax agents.  The Government also released the outcomes of the review into the Your Future, Your Super laws. This review covered the annual performance test and a variety of topics including: the YourSuper Comparison Tool, stapling, and the Best Financial Interests Duty.

The Government is consulting about significant changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing regulation.

ASIC has maintained focus on enforcement by commencing its first proceedings for alleged unfair contract terms in insurance. ASIC successfully sought an injunction against social media ‘finfluencer’ Tyson Scholz and pecuniary penalties and periods of disqualification against the current and former directors of responsible entities and investment managers.

APRA has published its finding of non compliances by a life company NobleOak.  It is also consulting on combining performance history of trustee-directed products.

Looking Back

24 March – AUSTRAC issues revised guidance on Employee AML/CTF risk awareness training and Employee due diligence.

27 March – AFCA opened a consultation on proposed rule changes aimed at helping consumers and financial firms to resolve complaints with comments due by 22 May 2023.

27 March – the Life CCC released determination CX14573 that relates to systems not applying the correct date of receipt on applications.

27 March – the Life CCC released determination CX7690 that relates to complaints about life insurance policies that are not owned by superannuation fund trustees.

27 March – the Corporations (Relevant Providers Degrees, Qualifications and Courses Standard) Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) Determination 2023 was registered and commenced.

27 March – the Attorney-General (by an Amendment Certificate) extended the operation of Family Law Instruments resulting in a deferral of 24 months in total before sunsetting.

27 March 2023 – the OAIC published a statement about the Latitude Financial data breach.

28 March – ASIC published a media release seeking feedback from operators of investor directed portfolio services (IDPS) and responsible entities of IDPS-like schemes on proposals to remake ‘sunsetting’ class orders.

28 March – APRA published the speech made by John Lonsdale, Chair, to the AFR Banking Summit 2023 including discussion of cyber security.

28 March – The RBA published a speech made by Ellis Connolly, Head of Payments Policy, on the Shift to Electronic Payments noting a significant shift towards electronic payments, particularly with cards and mobile devices.

29 March – a Fair Work Bill to extend National Employment Standards to superannuation contributions was introduced to the House of Representatives.

29 March – ASIC reported that ALT Financial Group Ltd convicted and fined $123,000 for failing to lodge financial reports.

30 March – APRA published  a response letter to its consultation on accounting equity and the capital base and other amendments to the capital framework for insurers relating to AASB 17.

30 March – the Board of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions released its Report on International Work to Develop a Global Assurance Framework for Sustainability-related Corporate Reporting.

30 March– the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 passed Parliament, with bipartisan support and without amendment and later received Royal Assent on 11 April 2023.

30 March– ASIC announced that it had banned Jeneve Matai, a Gold Coast-based financial adviser, from providing financial services for four years.

30 March – the LCCC released a Report following its own motion inquiry into Life subscribers’ compliance with section 3.1 of the Life Insurance Code of Practice.

31 March – Treasury released a consultation paper seeking views from interested parties on the implementation of changes to reduce superannuation tax concessions.

31 March – APRA informed NobleOak that it was in breach of prudential and reporting standards

31 March – ASIC published that the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) released its report on combatting retail market misconduct.

1 April  – APRA’s replacement set of reporting standards for life companies (LRS) commence operation.

3 April – ATO updated the status of its work on advice on super benefits in breach of rules and the ordinary meaning of the term ’employee’.

3 April – the Federal Court found current and former officers of Linchpin and Endeavour to have breached their duties as officers of a responsible entity of a registered scheme.

4 April – the Government published the results of the review of the Annual Performance Test and commenced a further consultation with responses due 2 May 2023.

4 April – Minister Jones issued a media release outlining the government’s response to comments made about ‘Your future, your super’ with reference to the YourSuper Comparison Tool, stapling and the best financial interests duty.

4 April – ASIC published a media release summarising the findings of the Court in ASIC v Daly in which ASIC took action against officers of a responsible entity.

4 April – ASIC commenced its first proceedings for alleged unfair contract terms in insurance against Auto & General Insurance Company.

6 April – APRA published changes to the ‘Frequently Asked Questions – Superannuation Data Transformation’ page.

6 April – ASIC released an article by Commissioner Danielle Press entitled: ‘Whistle while you work’.

6 April – Treasury sought feedback on public country-by-country tax reporting.

11 April – the Treasury Laws Amendment (Measures for Consultation) Regulations 2023: Financial reporting and auditing of registrable superannuation entities exposure draft was released for public consultation with responses due by 5 May 2023.

11 April – ASIC published  a media release detailing the changes CVC Limited made to its TMD following an ASIC stop order.

11 April – Treasury announced a review of four insurance instruments that are due to sunset on 1 October 2023 with consultation papers.

12 April – ASIC published the outcome of its review of performance communications by trustees that again failed the annual performance test for MySuper products in 2022.

12 April – ASIC released INFO 278: Inventory of superannuation trustee transparency and disclosure obligations.

13 April – ASIC announced that Tyson Scholz, a social media influencer, is permanently enjoined by the Federal Court from carrying out financial services in Australia.

13 April – AFCA reappointed David Locke as Chief Ombudsman and CEO for a second 5-year term.

13 April – APRA revised the CPS 230 Operational Risk Management update implementation timeline, moving the effective date to 1 July 2025, with transitional arrangements for existing service provider contracts until 1 July 2026 or contract renewal, whichever is earlier.

13 April – the Life Code Compliance Committee (Life CCC) released guidance for transition and early adoption of Code 2.0, publishing responses to some of the questions received from subscribers following its release.

18 April – APRA published the life insurance claims and disputes statistics from 2022, with ASIC’s MoneySmart life insurance claims comparison tool being updated with the data.

18 April – Treasury released for consultation an exposure draft bill and explanatory memorandum regarding education standards for experienced financial advisers and registered tax agents.

18 April – AFCA announced that it updated its datacube about complaints with data from the latter half of 2022.

19 April – APRA released for consultation a draft instrument to exempt a certain class of RSE licensee directors from the change of control and ownership provisions of the SIS Act and released an update on combining product performance histories for the performance test.

19 April  – ASX announced that it will be releasing a consultation paper in June 2023 on the proposed wind down and closure of the ASX Managed Fund Settlement Service.

20 April – the Attorney-General announced public consultation on proposed AML/CTF regime reforms.

20 April – ASIC registered Instrument 2023/36, amending and repealing a range of derivative transaction rules and reporting exemptions.

21 April – Government issues media release on investor roundtable aligning efforts to deliver cleaner, cheaper energy.

21 April – The ATO has made updates to the Superannuation Standard Choice Form and its associated web content after reviewing feedback from external stakeholders and individual product user-testing.

21 April – The LCCC released determination CX11215 that relates to non-compliance with section 8.14 of the Life Insurance Code of Practice.

21 April – Consultation open on draft legislative instrument 2023/D11 (Taxation Administration (Remedial Power – Work Test for Personal Superannuation Contributions) Determination 2023).

Looking Ahead

26 April – Treasury consultation on review of sunsetting insurance regulations closes.

28 April – Submissions for ASIC Consultation Paper 369 about remaking ASIC class orders on platforms are due.

2 May – Consultation closes for Superannuation Performance Test Regulations 2023.

3 May – Consultation an exposure draft bill and explanatory memorandum regarding education standards for experienced financial advisers and registered tax agents.

5 May – Submissions close for consultation on Treasury Laws Amendment Regulations 2023: Financial reporting and auditing of registrable superannuation entities.

5 May – Consultation closes on draft legislative instrument 2023/D11 (Taxation Administration (Remedial Power – Work Test for Personal Superannuation Contributions) Determination 2023).

9-11 May – Federal Parliament sitting.

11 May – Consultation closes for the proposed technical determination by APRA for combining MySuper product performance histories.

16 May – Superannuation Data Transformation Strategic Forum to be held by APRA.

22 May – Comments due on AFCA rules changes.

22-25 May – House of Representatives and Senate Budget estimates sitting.

26 May – Senate Economics Legislation Committee due to provide report on Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) Bill 2023 including provisions for determination of sustainability standards.