ASIC Information Sheet 197 Fee and cost disclosure requirements for superannuation trustees (INFO 197) clarifies ASIC’s expectations on the calculation of indirect costs and how performance and advice fees should be disclosed.

ASIC has also deferred by class order [CO 14/541] the operation of section 29QC of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 until 1 July 2015. During this period ASIC will take a facilitative approach if inadvertent breaches arise or systems changes are underway, provided that industry participants are making reasonable efforts to comply.

Section 29QC states a super trustee must use the same calculation when providing information to a person or on a website as it does when giving the same or equivalent information to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) under a reporting standard.

APRA’s Reporting Standard SRS 700.0 Product Dashboard (MySuper) and SRS 703.0 Fees Disclosed will continue to apply regardless of this deferral of section 29QC.

Separately, from 1 July 2014 super fund RSEs must also actively publish on their websites details of their executives, including remuneration, and fund product disclosure statements, governing rules, actuarial reports and summaries of significant events that have occurred over the past two years.

Regulatory Guide 252 Keeping superannuation websites up to date (RG 252) states that RSEs will be viewed as complying with the law if they update their website information within 20 business days of a change. For information on remuneration, a website needs to be updated within four months.

The timeframes are set out in Class Order [CO 14/509] Keeping RSEs’ superannuation websites up to date.