Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. With Parliament in caretaker mode, there are only a few news items to report this week. ASIC has announced its plans to publish more granular data in relation to breach reporting and internal dispute resolution activities of AFS licensees. It also issued several infringement notices to licensees for not registering their financial advisers under new laws which came into effect last year.
ASIC – Proposal to publish breach reporting data released
On 10 April 2025, ASIC released a new consultation paper called ‘Reportable situations and internal dispute resolution data publication’. Outlined in the consultation paper is ASIC’s proposal to provide further transparency in relation to the breach reporting regime by publishing ‘two dashboards containing firm-level Reportable Situations (RS) and Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) data in the second half of 2025’.
While ASIC has legislative powers to publish licensee-level breach reporting data, it presently does not use these powers. Accordingly, it plans to introduce these publications to ‘encourage firms to lift their game…[and provide] consumers and investors access to this data at firm level, further encouraging confident and informed participation in the financial system’.
The consultation period closes on 14 May 2025.
Click here for details.
ATO – Guidance in relation to superannuation income streams
On 10 April 2025, the ATO published updated guidance for superannuation trustees relating to issues they ‘need to consider when a super income stream starts or stops’. The information sets out what a complying pension is, the reporting and payment obligations that apply to pensions and what to do if the annual minimum pension payments are not made.
Click here for details.
ASIC – Licensees fined for authorising advisers who gave advice while unregistered
On 8 April 2025, ASIC announced that in February 2025 it had issued infringement notices for penalties totalling $31,300 to three AFSL holders for authorising their financial advisers to provide personal advice while unregistered, in breach of sections 921Y and 921Z of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
The financial adviser registration requirement was introduced by the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response—Better Advice) Act 2021 (Cth) and means that ‘a relevant provider must be authorised by an AFS licensee to provide personal advice and registered with ASIC before giving financial advice to retail clients’. ASIC has reminded the industry that ‘[t]he registration requirement is an important consumer protection mechanism to ensure AFS licensees have considered and received declarations about whether their financial advisers are fit and proper and meet the education and training standards’.
As explained by ASIC Commissioner, Alan Kirkland, ‘a failure to comply with the registration requirement could incur significant consequences for unregistered financial advisers who continue to provide personal advice and their authorising AFS licensee(s)’.
Click here for details.
ATO – Report released about management of financial abuse within the tax system
On 3 April 2025, the ATO announced that it ‘welcomes the release of the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman’s report into the ATO’s identification and management of financial abuse within the tax system’. The ATO confirmed that it agreed with the list of recommendations included in the report and that it appreciated the feedback provided by the victims of financial abuse.
It explained that ‘[s]everal of the report’s recommendations build on work already underway in the ATO to support vulnerable clients’ and that it ‘welcomes insights on how to further strengthen and coordinate support for taxpayers that have experienced financial abuse’. The ATO also confirmed that it will engage and consult with ‘other government agencies and community groups’ to target financial abuse within the tax system.
