Superannuation trustees need to do more to be ready for the internal dispute resolution (IDR) measures which will come into force this October.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has called on superannuation trustees to make ‘additional effort’ around governance, definition of complaint, implement the new IDR timeframes, tackling systemic issue and data capture and integration.
This based on a superannuation trustee preparedness survey conducted between April and May of this year to assess organisational preparedness for the RG271changes.
ASIC Commissioner Danielle Press said in an official statement, “How superannuation trustees treat complainants, and learn from complaints, is a true indicator of whether their funds have a culture of putting member’s interests first. It also provides insights into the maturity of a trustee’s approach to risk.”
This comes the same week that the Australian Prudential Authority (APRA) Executive Board Member Margaret Cole highlighted trustees of 13 funds failed the inaugural MYSuper Product Performance Test.
Cole said in an official statement,” It is welcome news that more than 84 per cent of products passed the performance test, however APRA remains concerned about those members in products that failed.”
The prudential regulator said that the trustees of the failed products have until the 27 September to write to its members.
Findings from survey
53 per cent did not record the complaints resolved on the spot by their contact centre. 21 per cent don’t record complaints being resolved within the first five days, 36 per cent didn’t handle objections to death benefits as a complaint and 10 per cent didn’t monitor social media for complaints.
29 per cent of trustee boards had not yet been briefed on their RG 271 obligations.
Time frames for IDR has been flagged as the most critical change that needs to happen for the organisations to be prepared for the new IDR regime.
The biggest obstacle highlighted by the survey has been the definition of complaints, while the amount of legislative and regulatory change was close second.
Press said,” We encourage all trustees to assess their preparedness for RG 271 in light of these findings. From 5 October 2021, key parts of the IDR requirements are enforceable. ASIC will take a reasonable approach in the early stages provided trustees are using their best efforts to comply.”
