ASFA calls for SCT-ASIC separation

A functional separation should occur between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT), according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).

The industry body believes ASIC should not be able to control the workings of the SCT.

The call for functional separation of ASIC and the SCT has come amid recent suggestions that ASIC has been seeking to assert budget and administrative control over the tribunal.

However in a submission to the Senate Committee of Inquiry into the operations of ASIC, ASFA has made it clear that "best practice dictates that it [SCT] should operate independently of ASIC in all respects".

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"As the SCT has the authority to determine claims or disputes, the function the SCT performs is more akin to a judicial function than an administrative or regulatory one," the ASFA submission said. "While, technically, the SCT is exercising powers of administrative review, a hallmark of tribunals is that they should operate, and importantly be perceived by consumers to be operating, on a truly independent, quasi-judicial basis.

"Accordingly, it is imperative that the SCT should be free to operate as a truly independent authority. In order to achieve this, it is our view that: The SCT should be functionally separated from ASIC and established as a body in its own right. The funding for the SCT under the industry supervisory levy, collected from the industry by APRA, should be entirely separate from that provided to ASIC. Even if the SCT is not established as an independent body then, at an absolute minimum, there should be full and transparent disclosure by ASIC of the amounts allocated to the SCT each financial year and the basis on which that allocation was determined."