Fund Regulatory Update

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FSC launches Women in Investment Management Charter

The Financial Services Council has launched the Women in Investment Management Charter alongside the results of a survey showing action is required to increase female representation in the fund’s management industry. The survey showed women on average make up just a quarter of investment teams, which is an improvement on 2017 numbers (14 per cent), but more work needs to be done to achieve gender equality.

Eight fund management members have already signed the Charter, AllianceBernstein Australia Limited, Australian Ethical Investment Ltd, Challenger Limited, First Sentier Investors, Mercer, QIC Limited, Russell Investment Group, and State Street Global Advisors Australia Limited.

The Charter has four principles:

  • appointing an investment management senior executive who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity within the investment management team;

  • setting internal targets for gender diversity in the investment management division;

  • monitoring and reporting annually how the organisation is tracking against its target; and

  • having an intention of linking the pay of relevant staff to delivery against the gender diversity target set by the organisation.

Multiple super account numbers down but still $3.6 billion in unclaimed super remains

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) released its research paper into unwanted multiple superannuation accounts and the costs to fund members. Also tracked was the huge reduction over recent years in these accounts. The combined efforts of government and funds themselves have seen a marked reduction in excess accounts, but there still remains $3.6 billion in unclaimed superannuation.

ASFA forecasts that 2.5 million unwanted multiple accounts will remain by June 2022, costing around $100 million per year. Five million accounts remain in the Australian Tax Office system.

YFYS regulations released

The Your Future, Your Super regulations were released recently in the final reforms passed in parliament to improve the superannuation system for consumers. The reforms ensure consumers take their superannuation account with them from job to job, preventing the opening of multiple accounts that has seen massive amounts of money left unclaimed in the superannuation system. This has been called stapling, a recommendation from the Hayne Royal Commission.