AIST was responding to questions on notice that were posed following a recent Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on Corporations and Financial Services hearing regarding gatekeepers in the industry.
van Eyk chief executive Mark Thomas had suggested in the hearing that the largest expectation gap within the industry was around the regulation of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) and how people are being licensed to establish them. AIST was asked to comment on this and whether the area needed reform.
AIST said expectations of and behaviour within SMSFs should, as far as possible, be placed on a level playing field with the “rigorously governed” Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)-regulated funds.
It recommended the removal of the current accountants’ licensing exemption allowing accountants to advise on the set-up and closure of SMSFs without an Australian Financial Services licence, or at a minimum, the exemption phase-out should be cut back from three years to six months.
AIST also recommended SMSF trustees should be required to have accredited training prior to establishing an SMSF, and should be required to continue ongoing accredited training each year as long as they are managing an SMSF.
AIST also objected to the fact that “it is APRA-regulated funds that will bear these costs [of SuperStream implementation]” even though the SMSF sector will also benefit. AIST recommended SMSFs should also be required to bear some of the costs of SuperStream, but did not specify how.
