Letter to registrable superannuation entity licensees: COVID-19 Pandemic Data Collection request

To all RSE licensees
 

COVID-19 Pandemic Data Collection request

APRA is releasing a COVID-19 Pandemic Data Collection (PDC) to enable ongoing assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the superannuation industry and the outcomes being delivered to members. The PDC will continue until issues that are being faced by registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensees relating to the COVID-19 pandemic have abated. In this regard, a review of the continued need for the PDC will occur in late September 2020.

APRA understands that RSE licensees have been under considerable pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic, however APRA considers that the data in the PDC is essential to enable APRA to analyse the impact of COVID-19. 

The purpose of the PDC is to:

• provide APRA with enhanced data surrounding the early release of superannuation, enabling analysis of impacted demographics;
• provide APRA and ASIC with monthly data on complaints, member accounts with insurance that have been cancelled, insurance claim activity and intra-fund advice provided;
• provide APRA with quarterly data on investment options, foreign currency exposure and hedging, and member switching; and 
• allow APRA to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the superannuation industry and provide reporting to the Government and other agencies.

The PDC comprises two components. The first component contains information that is required to be reported monthly, which will cover information in relation to complaints, insurance, advice and operational resilience. The second component contains information that is required to be reported quarterly, which will cover information on liquidity, early release demographics and, in addition, a one-off collection of insurance cancellations relating to the Protecting Your Super reforms. APRA has worked closely with ASIC in developing aspects of the PDC to ensure there is a coordinated data collection process to minimise the impact on RSE licensees. 

The information required to be provided monthly (the first component) is due on 31st July 2020 and will cover the period of April 2020 through June 2020. Going forward, the collection for information on the first component will be due 15 business days following the end of the month.

The information required to be provided quarterly (the second component) will also be due on 31st July 2020. Going forward, the collection for information on the second component will be due 15 business days following the end of the quarter.

The PDC will be collected via D2A. APRA will advise submitting entities when the collection is available in D2A; we expect this to be in early July 2020.

A PDC reporting collection template is available at https://www.apra.gov.au/reporting-requirements-for-superannuation-entities. This is for reference purposes only. As noted above, the actual collection will be via D2A.

APRA would also like to provide you with the opportunity to ask questions regarding the PDC. As such APRA will be holding a webinar in early July. Details of how to register for this webinar will be provided to you shortly.

At this time APRA intends to only publish the data collected through the PDC at the industry level on a monthly or quarterly basis. 

Feedback

APRA would appreciate feedback on the PDC, which can be sent to covid19superdata@apra.gov.au.

APRA understands that the PDC is at short notice on already constrained resources and that some funds may find it difficult to implement in the timeframes required. Please provide information on this in your feedback.

Yours sincerely,

Alison Bliss
General Manager, Data Analytics & Insights
Data Analytics and Insights