The portfolio holdings disclosure regime has been strongly opposed by the superannuation industry since its inception, with trustees complaining they will have to list thousands of lines of data on their websites that will make them the target of special interest groups.
Another common objection from super funds has been that the requirements could force them to list proprietary information, such as the holdings of hedge funds.
The Stronger Super portfolio holdings disclosure rules were originally set to begin in 2014, before being pushed back to 1 July 2015 in May 2014 by then finance minister and acting assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann.
Then on 1 May 2015, ASIC announced the measure would be delayed again until 1 July 2016 to “allow the federal government further time to consult on the detail of the requirements”.
Yesterday, in a further update on the Stronger Super regime, ASIC announced the portfolio holding disclosure reporting and choice product dashboard requirements would be deferred until 30 June 2017.
The deferral of the start date will “allow time for the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Transparency Measures) Bill 2016 to pass and the federal government further time to consult on the detail of the requirements”, the corporate regulator said.
“The deferrals will provide industry with certainty about the commencement dates of the requirements, reduce the administrative burden on industry and provide it with time to finalise their preparation for the introduction of the new requirements,” said ASIC.
Under the new timetable, the first reporting date for the portfolio holdings regime will be 31 December 2017.
ASIC has issued amendments to three class orders that reflect the latest deferral of the portfolio holdings disclosure regime.
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