Bridge Business Consulting conducted a survey in August of superannuation finance managers who are charged with submitting APRA forms, as well as IT managers who are responsible for delivering the data.
The survey found that 63 per cent of super funds were treating their APRA reporting requirements as “mostly tactical”.
“Almost 90 per cent stated that they were not using the data for any purpose other than to comply with the APRA submission requirements,” said the report.
“This implies that the task of compliance is being seen as a stand-alone cost of operating rather than a potential opportunity to use the data gathered for better insight,” it said.
Bridge Business Consulting director Bruce Russell said the data collected by funds could have “significant value” within the organisation.
“For instance, data on underlying investments (particularly those housed within opaque and often complex investment vehicles), provides valuable information to the trustees,” Mr Russell said.
“The registrable superannuation entities should actively consider how this information may be re-purposed for internal consumption.”
On the whole, survey respondents were firmly opposed to the costs being imposed on the superannuation industry.
In response to the question “Do the benefits of the legislation justify the cost of compliance and the additional levy charged to members?”, 37 per cent of respondents neither agreed nor disagreed; 37 per cent disagreed; and 26 per cent strongly disagreed.
“[The responses] are not surprising when the costs involved are analysed,” said the report.
“Implementation costs vary wildly, but a quarter of respondents are spending between $5 million and $20 million on once-off implementation activities and more than $1 million per annum to maintain compliance,” said Bridge Business Consulting.
