Super pay up for 2012-13 levies

Superannuation funds will pay $180.9 million in finance industry levies over 2012-13, including $121.5 million to fund the implementation of SuperStream, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

Total industry levies increased 109.6 per cent from 2011-12 to reach a projected $266.4 million in 2012-13, mainly to accommodate the costs of SuperStream.

Excluding SuperStream, superannuation funds will wear 41 per cent of 2012-13's finance industry levies.

APRA said superannuation funds liquidity, valuation practices for unlisted assets and the solvency of defined benefit funds would be its main charges in the superannuation sector over the coming financial year. Small APRA funds would continue to pay a flat fee of $10,000, it said.

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APRA's total funding requirements for the general insurance market were $22.3 million, with an additional $0.7 million in funding for the National Claims and Policies Database.

Life insurance and friendly societies would fund $12.9 million as APRA continued to focus on the life and general insurance industry's capital standards.

The supervision of authorised deposit taking institutions would cost $49.6 million, including enhancements to the Basel Committee reforms and an additional $3.4 million to fund APRA's consumer protection work.

Funding from levies included $7.1 million to cover the expenses of the Australian Taxation Office in administering the Superannuation Lost Member Register and $20.7 million to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.

The SuperStream levy was estimated to cost $121.5 million in 2012-13, $111.1 million in 2013-14, $83.1 million in 2014-15, $41.2 million in 2016-17 and $40.9 million in 2017-18.

Although APRA estimated savings from the implementation of SuperStream to be $1 billion annually, industry representatives have questioned the extent of reimbursement and the up-front costs to superannuation funds.