Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 16 of 2014
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Prepared by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001, sections 13 and 15
Acts Interpretation Act 1901, section 33
Under subsection 13(1) of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (the Act), APRA has the power to determine reporting standards, in writing, with which financial sector entities must comply. Such standards relate to reporting financial or accounting data and other information regarding the business or activities of the entities. Subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 provides that where an Act confers a power to issue an instrument the power shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to revoke any such instrument.
On 2 June 2014, APRA made Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 16 of 2014 (the instrument) which:
(i) revokes Reporting Standard SRS 001.0 Profile and Structure (Baseline) made under Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 61 of 2013; and
(ii) determines Reporting Standard SRS 001.0 Profile and Structure (Baseline) (SRS 001.0).
The instrument commences on 30 June 2014.
- Background
APRA is empowered to make reporting standards under the Act, which require regulated institutions, including RSE licensees, to submit specified data through various reporting forms. Data from these forms are used internally to assist APRA’s supervisory functions and by other agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. APRA also collates and publishes statistical information and analysis using data from these reporting forms.
In 2013, APRA released a suite of 37 final reporting standards applying to the superannuation industry. SRS 001.0 was included as part of this suite.
Since the commencement of the new reporting requirements, APRA has received industry feedback on some of these obligations, seeking clarification and guidance on interpretation. As a result, APRA has publicly released a number of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the APRA website to provide timely guidance for RSE licensees to ensure the submission of high quality data to APRA.
A number of matters raised by industry stakeholders and which are covered in FAQs are those that APRA considers necessary to include in the reporting standards, forms and instructions on an ongoing basis.
On 25 March 2014, APRA advised industry that it intends to amend SRS 001.0 to clarify issues in the form and instructions that have been reported to APRA since the reporting standard commenced in April 2013. These amendments are essential as SRS 001.0 affects how reporting forms are allocated to RSE licensees.
2. Purpose and operation of the instrument
The purpose of making the instrument is to amend SRS 001.0 to ensure that reporting forms are correctly allocated to RSE licensees and that all relevant information relating to SRS 001.0 is available in one, consolidated location. APRA has incorporated the materials from the FAQs in, as well as made a small number of other minor corrections to, the previous version of SRS 001.0. This requires revoking the previous version of SRS 001.0 and replacing it with a new version of the instrument that reflects the amendments.
The types of changes that APRA has made include: removal of references to select investment options for the 2014/2015 financial year pending further industry consultation, clarification of instructions for when updated information needs to be reported to APRA, minor changes to definitions to ensure that they reflect recognized industry terminology and practice and the addition of a previously omitted field in respect of MySuper products. Details of the changes to SRS 001.0 are outlined below:
- Removal of references to select investment options, pending further consultation on select investment option reporting requirements;
- Additional clarity in relation to:
- annual and ad-hoc reporting due dates;
- the interpretation of membership base;
- RSE licensee ownership status;
- the interpretation of the terms ‘defined benefit RSE’, ‘MySuper product’ and ‘sub-fund’;
- the manner in which defined benefit funds should be reported; and
- the manner in which MySuper products should be reported,
in order to promote consistency of reporting;
- Addition of a new field in respect of MySuper products (item 6, column 2), requiring submission of the unique MySuper product identifier, to enable APRA to track MySuper products uniquely; and
- Clarification of the information required in respect of changes to a MySuper product to ensure that changes to both a MySuper product itself and to lifecycle stages within a MySuper product (where applicable) are notified to APRA (item 6, column 7), to reduce the volume of validation queries raised by APRA.
3. Consultation
APRA undertook extensive consultations on the development of the 37 reporting standards, including SRS 001.0, which were determined in 2013.
The substance of these changes, which do not substantially alter existing arrangements, has been previously communicated to industry via the FAQs on APRA’s website and via APRA’s letter to industry dated 25 March 2014.
4. Regulation Impact Statement
The Office of Best Practice Regulation has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required for this legislative instrument.
5. Statement of compatibility prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
A Statement of compatibility prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 is provided at Attachment A to this Explanatory Statement.
ATTACHMENT A
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 16 of 2014
The above legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instrument listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (HRPS Act).
Overview of the legislative instrument
The purpose of making this legislative instrument is to revoke the existing reporting standard and remake the reporting standard to make minor and machinery amendments to the reporting requirements in relation to RSE licensees.
Human rights implications
APRA has assessed the instrument against the international instruments listed in section 3 of the HRPS Act and determined that only Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is conceivably potentially of relevance to the legislative instrument.
Article 17 of the ICCPR prohibits the arbitrary or unlawful interference with a person’s privacy, family, home and correspondence, and attacks on reputation. Article 17 is exclusively concerned with prohibiting interference with the privacy and/or reputation of individual persons. It does not extend to the privacy and/or reputation of corporate entities.
The instrument will facilitate the reporting of information to APRA by RSE licensees in accordance with a reporting standard. The majority of information will be about the profile and structure of each RSE licensee’s business operations but will not involve the collection of information directly relating to individual persons.
Consequently the instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the HRPS Act. Accordingly, in APRA’s assessment, the instrument is compatible with human rights.
Conclusion
Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 16 of 2014 is compatible with human rights because the instrument does not limit human rights or otherwise raise any human rights issues.