THE Financial Services Council (FSC) has urged caution in relation to the use of APRA’s proposed heatmapping exercises to make comparisons between superannuation funds.

Responding to the release of APRA’s Information Paper: Heatmap – MySuper products, FSC CEO Sally Loane said that APRA has clearly worked hard to present information in a fair and impartial way and acknowledged the potential value in the analysis APRA is undertaking, but cautioned against the information being viewed in isolation.

“Particular care should be taken by commentators in interpreting the heatmaps into simplistic league tables,” Ms Loane said.

“The industry was not consulted on the methodology, so we don’t have full understanding of APRA’s approach, this is why we caution against using the information to make a like-for-like comparison of products. We believe it is far more complex, and in some cases problematic.

“For example, the reference portfolio used by APRA to benchmark returns appears simplistic, and it is unclear whether the level of risk adjustment is appropriate.

“We are also concerned that the analysis of sustainability relates to the whole of a super fund rather than the specific products being examined, presenting a potentially misleading view.

“We urge APRA to be open to engaging on genuine concerns about data and methodology over the coming weeks,” Ms Loane said.

The FSC said that while there was a case for being able to directly compare MySuper products in this format with the appropriate methodology, there were concerns about APRA’s intention to expand this project to choice superannuation products.

“The variation in choice superannuation products in the market makes them significantly more difficult to accurately compare, and there are not currently agreed metrics and standards for how this would occur.

“We recommend APRA be cautious in extending this exercise to choice products before they have access to appropriate, comparable data.

Ms Loane said that if issues are addressed, information in the heatmapping analysis could be a good resource super funds can use to improve consumer outcomes.

“The FSC and our members will review the documents released today in detail, and we look forward to ongoing engagement with APRA as they improve their data collection, analysis and publication capabilities,” Ms Loane said.

www.fsc.org.au

About the Financial Services Council

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has more than 100 members representing Australia's retail and wholesale funds management businesses, superannuation funds, life insurers, financial advisory networks and licensed trustee companies. The industry is responsible for investing $3 trillion on behalf of more than 15.6 million Australians. The FSC promotes best practice for the financial services industry by setting mandatory Standards for its members and providing Guidance Notes to assist in operational efficiency. The FSC’s mission is to protect and enhance confidence in a strong, sustainable financial services sector that serves Australians with integrity.

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AN EXPANDING resources sector, combined with limited knowledge amongst young people of the many and varied careers it offers, is the stuff of a perfect storm for skills shortages. 

However, students from Villanova College, San Sisto College and Mount Gravatt State High School today had the inside running on these career choices when an industry specialist from Glencore Zinc visits the school. 

They’ll be taking part in a Beakers.Bots.Build workshop at Villanova College run by the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA), which highlights the high-tech nature of the modern resources sector. 

"The students will see their classroom learning come to life as we help them navigate a hands-on simulated gas extraction technique using perforated well casings," said director of skills, education, diversity for QRC, Katrina-Lee Jones. 

"The students will also program a Lego robot, representing an autonomous truck, to move ‘ore’ around a mine site and construct a device to remove unwanted materials 'from a conveyor belt'.

“We are very excited to be hosting this event, as it is the first time all three schools have been involved in QMEA activities,” said the principal of Villanova Mark Stower. 

“It will be great for the students to speak to the industry people and understand how their studies relate to the real world of work."

A recent study by the Minerals Council of Australia demonstrated that 59 percent of young people knew nothing about resources sector careers. 

The QMEA is a partnership between the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) and the Queensland Government under its Gateway to Industry Schools program. It has 74 schools throughout Queensland. 

QRC is the peak representative body for Queensland ‘s resource sector. The Queensland resources sector provides one in every five dollars in the Queensland economy, sustains one in seven Queensland jobs, and supports more than 14,400 businesses and community organisations across the state, all from 0.1 percent of Queensland’s land mass. 

www.qrc.org.au

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KRISTOFER ROGERS, CEO of Australian fintech Split Payments took out the ‘Start-up Executive of the Year’ award at CEO Magazine’s 2019 Executive of the Year Awards last night.

Presented by The Morning Show’s Larry Emdur at Crown, Melbourne, Mr Rogers joined 600 guests, including Gina Rinehart and Ronni Kahn, Founder of OzHarvest, to recognise the exceptional achievements of CEOs and senior managers in Australia.

“We are so proud to receive this award after what’s been an incredible year for Split Payments," Mr Rogers said. “To be recognised as Start-Up Executive of the Year is an incredible honour.

"In a rapidly scaling start-up environment, the decisions we make as a leadership team can significantly pivot the business - and the challenges we face are amplified. So it’s great to shine a light on our success as we continue to grow.”

Following in the footsteps of successful Australian fintechs including AfterPay and Zip Money, Split Payments’ success is impressive, having reached 14 million transactions through its Open Banking Real-Time Payments Platform since launching in January 2018.

Their ground-breaking innovation delivers the quickest, most cost-effective, and secure global bank transfer capability, which dramatically reduces dishonours and improves clearance times. Split has already secured partnerships with major Australian corporations such as Australia Post, Kounta, illion and MoneyMe.

The award tops off a big year for Split Payments, receiving the ‘FinTech Innovation in Payments’ recognition at the Australian FinTech Awards in Sydney earlier this year and named a ‘Top 20 Global FinTech to Watch’ at Money2020 in Las Vegas USA. Split is making a big splash in the global fintech scene.

The Australian payments ecosystem is set for significant change in 2020, as Open Banking is released in stages, and real-time payments continues to grow.

Led by Mr Rogers, Split is collaborating with several industry associations and tier-one financial institutions to ensure that the Australian fintech sector is leading the way with global innovation in payments.

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THE House of Representatives Health, Aged Care and Sport Committee is holding public hearings in Sydney and Melbourne next week as part of its inquiry into Allergy and Anaphylaxis.

Committee Chair Trent Zimmerman MP said the hearings will be great opportunities to hear from some of the most respected experts in the fields of allergy and immunology, as well as from people whose lives have been severely affected by allergies and anaphylaxis.

"Australia has become known as the allergy capital of the world," Mr Zimmerman said.

‘It’s important for us to hear from everyone with an interest in the treatment and management of allergies. I’m also excited to learn about the cutting edge research happening in this field in Australia.’

The hearings will focus on what needs to be done to provide better support and make improvements to the lives of individuals and families living with allergies and anaphylaxis.

The committee will hold a full day hearing in Melbourne on 18 November and then head to Sydney on 19 November to gather further evidence.

The submission deadline has been extended to Friday 29 November. Visit the Committee’s website for more details.

Public hearing details

Date: Monday, 18 November 2019
Time: 10am to 5pm
Location: Mantra on Russell, 222 Russell St, Melbourne

Date: Tuesday, 19 November 2019
Time: 9:30am to 4:30pm
Location: The SMC Conference and Function Centre, Level 3, 66 Goulburn St, Sydney

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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NEW Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data shows that there is over $20.8 billion in lost and unclaimed super across Australia.

Today the ATO has published the amount of lost and unclaimed super by postcode to help people find their superannuation they have lost touch with.

Assistant Commissioner Graham Whyte said that last year over 540,000 active, lost and unclaimed super accounts worth more than $4.4 billion was consolidated using ATO online via myGov.

“Often people lose touch with their fund by simply changing jobs or moving home. It’s important to know that this doesn’t mean it’s lost forever, getting back in touch is easier than you think," Mr Whyte said.

"In addition, new legislation means that for the first time, we can now start reuniting Australians with their super, without them needing to take any action. We will let them know when we have done this."

The new law also requires super funds to report and pay ‘inactive low balance accounts’ to the ATO. This includes accounts that have not received a contribution for 16 months and have a balance below $6,000.

“In total, we’ve received over 2.3 million inactive low balance accounts from super funds, valued at approximately $2.16 billion," Mr Whyte said.

“We are now working to reunite Australians with these amounts by either transferring it into an active super account, or directly into their bank account where the amount is less than $200 or the member is aged over 65 years.

“So far, we have reunited just over 841,000 accounts worth nearly $1.38 billion. This includes approximately 684,000 accounts worth $1.22 billion that have been transferred into an individual’s active super account and approximately 157,000 accounts worth $161 million directly to individuals’ bank accounts. We will be continuing this work throughout November and into the future. We will let you know after we have reunited you with your super.

“We expect more than one million people will receive a direct payment," Mr Whyte said.

“With the ATO now able to reunite these inactive low balance accounts and previously unclaimed accounts, we’ve already started to see some incredible examples of people receiving meaningful boosts to their retirement savings.

“One woman aged 68 will be directly paid over $1.5 million that was unclaimed and she’d lost touch with.

“Another woman was previously reunited with over $600,000 of unclaimed super after losing her home in a bushfire. As she was over 65, we were able to pay that money directly to her and she is now able to use this money to rebuild her life.

“In this case, it wasn’t until the woman reached out to us that she realised she had so much super. That’s why it’s great that we can now start proactively reuniting people with their super that they might not know about.

“Anyone who thinks they may get a direct payment should make sure their bank account details are up to date by logging in to ATO online via MyGov.

 “Even if you won’t be eligible for a direct payment, it’s important to do your future a favour by engaging with your super now.

 “While it’s great that this new legislation means we can now proactively reunite Australians with their super, there are instances where we cannot reconnect you with your super.

“That’s why I recommend using ATO online to check that you aren’t missing out on any lost or unclaimed super that’s being held by us or your super fund ," Mr Whyte said.

For information on how to manage super and view all personal super accounts including lost and unclaimed super, visit ato.gov.au/checkyoursuper

To find out how much lost super is in a postcode and to see other superannuation statistics, visit ato.gov.au/lostsuper

Top 10 postcodes ranked by number of lost and unclaimed super account values as at 30 June 2019

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THE Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will appear before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services at a public hearing in Sydney on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.

The committee will hold two hearings. First, the committee will review the performance and operations of the corporate regulator, following on from the first ASIC oversight hearing on Friday, September 13, 2019.

Second, ASIC will give evidence to the committee for its inquiry into the regulation of auditing in Australia.

Public hearing details
Date:  Tuesday, 19 November 2019
Time:  9am to 12pm (ASIC Oversight), 1pm to 4.30pm (Regulation of auditing)
Location: Portside Room, Portside Centre Sydney, Level 5, 207 Kent St, Sydney NSW 2000.

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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THE Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit will hold its first public hearing in Canberra on Friday, November 15, 2019 as part of the Inquiry into the Efficiency and Effectiveness of a number of government programs and initiatives as contained in the below Auditor-General’s Reports:

• No. 25 (2018-19) Efficiency of the Processing of Applications for Citizenship by Conferral

• No. 29 (2018–19) Efficiency of the Investigation of Transport Accidents and Safety Occurrences

• No. 38 (2018–19) Application of Cost Recovery Principles

No. 42 (2018-19) Management of Small Business Tax Debt

No. 44 (2018–19) Effectiveness of the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation

No. 45 (2018–19) Coordination and Targeting of Domestic Violence Funding and Actions

No. 51 (2019–19) Farm Management Deposits Scheme

The public hearing program and further information about the inquiry is available on the committee’s website.

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THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the Australian Government’s announcement of new finance pathways for critical minerals projects, along with a special project facilitation office.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane will join Resources Minister Matt Canavan’s Australian critical minerals delegation to Washington next week to further develop the US-Australia trading partnership.

“Queensland will be at the forefront of the development of Australia’s critical minerals,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“This emerging part of the resources sector will play a strategic role for Australia in terms of defence industries, manufacturing, trade and regional development.

“Our rich resources state of Queensland has significant reserves of key critical minerals including battery-related minerals," he said.

“We have 13 percent of Australia’s economic demonstrated resources of copper, 3 percent of nickel, 6 percent of zinc, 18 percent of graphite, along with 70 percent of molybdenum and significant identified deposits of cobalt, rhenium, scandium, tantalum, niobium, lithium, rare earths and vanadium.

“What’s more, the resources are identified thanks in large part to the $100 million Exploring for the Future program, which will make the area between Tennant Creek and Mount Isa one of the best mapped parts of Earth," Mr Macfarlane said.

“New investments will also mean new jobs and opportunities for regional Queensland. Our resources sector is already a powerhouse of the Queensland economy, making up one in every five dollars and one in every seven jobs.

“New investments in critical minerals will add to the jobs and possibilities in our world-leading coal, gas and metals sectors. QRC is particularly focussed on ensuring the best planning and development of the critical minerals supply chain," he said.

“This should include investments in transport infrastructure, as well as opportunities for processing and value adding of critical minerals within Queensland.

“QRC welcomes the opportunity to further discuss these issues and ways to strengthen global markets for Queensland commodities during the Australian trade delegation to the United States," Mr Macfarlane said.

“QRC also looks forward to working with the Queensland Government on the development of the North West Minerals Province, which will be a hub for the state’s critical minerals industry.”

www.qrc.org.au

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