On 27 April, the Minister for Financial Services, The Hon Bill Shorten MP, released an exposure draft of the legislation the government proposes to introduce to improve governance standards in the superannuation industry.  The legislation will also provide the remaining legislative elements for the ‘MySuper’ program.

The draft legislation would require superannuation funds to publish (on their websites):

·         details of director and executive pay;

·         details of the assets the fund has invested in; as well as

·         up-to-date information for each product offered by the fund  on target investment returns, past performance against targets, investment risk, liquidity and fees.

Further, more detailed transparency requirements will be able to be specified in regulations.

What is meant by director and executive remuneration is not specified in the legislation, nor is there any prescribed method for it to be determined or disclosed (other than on a website).  These not so minor details will be in regulations yet to be published.

Mr Shorten indicated that he would be holding more discussions with key superannuation industry stakeholders on how to further improve transparency and governance in the industry. Issues to be addressed include better representation of women on super boards and requiring more regular board renewal.

The exposure draft legislation is available HERE, while the explanatory memorandum is HERE.

 

Submissions on the exposure draft close on 16 May 2012.

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