Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 2 of 2011

Information provided by trustees under Reporting Standards SRS 200.0, SRS 210.0, SRS 210.1, SRS 230.0, SRS 240.0 and SRS 250.0

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Prepared by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (APRA Act), s 57

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 2 of 2011 (this Determination), made under section 57 of the APRA Act on 14 January 2011, is APRA’s fifth determination[1] in relation to information provided under Reporting Standards SRS 200.0 (2005), SRS 210.0 (2005), SRS 210.1 (2005), SRS 230.0 (2005), SRS 240.0 (2005) and SRS 250.0 (2005), and the predecessor reporting standards.

1. Background

Subsection 56(5C) of the APRA Act provides that it is not an offence under s 56(2) of that Act (APRA’s secrecy provision) to disclose information in a reporting document given to APRA under s 13 of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (Collection of Data Act) where APRA has determined, under s 57, that the document does not contain confidential information.

Section 57 of the APRA Act gives APRA the power to determine whether a document given under s 13 of the Collection of Data Act contains confidential information. The section provides that before doing so APRA must give relevant entities or bodies, or their representative association, a reasonable opportunity to make representations as to whether information of the kind contained in the document is confidential, and APRA must take such representations into account (the consultation undertaken is discussed below).

2.            Purpose of the instrument

The purpose of this Determination is to enable APRA to disclose, including by way of publication, certain information provided to APRA by trustees of superannuation entities.

3.            Operation of the instrument

This Determination provides that certain information (described below) given to APRA under any of the following reporting standards, or any prior reporting standard of the same name and number, made under s 13 of the Collection of Data Act (collectively, Reporting Standards) is non-confidential:

• SRS 200.0 (2005) Statement of Financial Performance made under Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 51 of 2005;
• SRS 210.0 (2005) Statement of Financial Position made under Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 52 of 2005;
• SRS 210.1 (2005) Selected Disclosure of Investments made under Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 53 of 2005;
• SRS 230.0 (2005) Transactions with Associated Entities made under Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 56 of 2005;
• SRS 240.0 (2005) Membership Profile made under Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 57 of 2005; and
• SRS 250.0 (2005) Superannuation Entity Profile made under Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 41 of 2005.

The Reporting Standards apply to all superannuation entities other than small APRA funds, self-managed superannuation funds and single member approved deposit funds (relevant superannuation entities).

This Determination applies to reporting documents (collectively, Reporting Documents) that relate to a reporting period ending on or after 1 January 2004 and before 1 January 2011, which are received by APRA on or after 16 March 2010 and before the date of the Determination under:

• reporting form SRF 200.0, under Reporting Standard SRS 200.0;
• reporting form SRF 210.0, under Reporting Standard SRS 210.0;
• parts A, C & E of reporting form SRF 210.1, under Reporting Standard SRS 210.1;
• reporting form SRF 230.0, under Reporting Standard SRS 230.0;
• reporting form SRF 240.0, under Reporting Standard SRS 240.0; or
• reporting form SRF 250.0, under Reporting Standard SRS 250.0,

excluding the following items of information:

• information reported about a pooled superannuation trust (PST); and
• personal information, within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act).

Public access to the information covered by this Determination would facilitate comparison and further analysis of the expected risks and returns associated with individual superannuation entities and assist members to assess information provided, or representations made, by trustees. The information is also expected to assist trustees in evaluating the effectiveness of long-term investment strategies. Over time, this is expected to improve both the public understanding of, and the level of competition within, the Australian superannuation industry.

4.            Consultation

APRA released the discussion paper Fund level disclosure from the APRA Superannuation statistics collection on 20 November 2008. The discussion paper outlined the issues and questions to be resolved in creating an annual superannuation fund-level publication and sought comments and suggestions on the data items to be included (i.e., a reference table and also compilation tables). The discussion paper also stated that APRA “nevertheless intends to write to all potentially affected trustees, inviting them to nominate any data items from our existing statistical collections which might be confidential”.

On 14 May 2009 APRA issued a consultation letter to the 263 trustees of the relevant superannuation entities and 16 other parties (including industry bodies and professional associations). The letter advised that APRA proposed to determine the Reporting Documents to be non-confidential. The consultation period closed on 12 June 2009.

Nineteen submissions were received by APRA in response to the consultation carried out in 2009 about the proposed determination of non-confidentiality. The submissions were made by trustees as well as industry bodies and service providers (such as custodians).

APRA, after consideration of the submissions, modified the scope of the proposed determination of non-confidentiality to exclude the following items of information contained in the Reporting Documents:

• information reported about a PST; and
• personal information, within the meaning of the Privacy Act.

[1] See Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 11 of 2009 (varied by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 16 of 2009) and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 1 of 2010.