The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has intervened in relation to 21 superannuation trustees, representing 15% of the trustee population, to improve 'transparency information' on their super-fund websites.

Under s29QB Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993, each superannuation/retirement fund must disclose TI on a website and keep it up-to-date at all times.

TI comprises remuneration, governance and other information related to the fund; for example trustee directors’ remuneration for the last two financial years, fund trust deeds and product disclosure statements, a summary of significant event notices sent to fund members in the last two years and a summary of how the trustee voted in the last financial year in relation to listed shares held by the fund.

ASIC's action follows an earlier review of transparency disclosure requirements introduced as part of the 'Stronger Super' reforms and a broader desire to ensure that superannuation trustees disclose transparent and accessible superannuation fund information.

Twenty-one super-fund websites were identified as failing to meet TI requirements. Two of the super funds had assets exceeding A$10 billion (US$7.59 billion) while the remaining 19 were smaller funds.

ASIC wants information about the retirement industry to be 'transparent, not only for fund members but also for 'gatekeepers' (professionals and others who service consumers in one way or another) such as analysts, advisers and journalists.

The regulator expects super-fund websites to be easy to find. When someone searches for a fund's name using an Internet search engine, the website homepage should point to the 'transparency information' prominently.

The deficiencies ASIC's found consisted of:

• no super fund website (10 funds);
• no transparency information on the fund website (four funds);
• no remuneration information (five funds); and
• remuneration disclosed in bands, rather than for each individual executive officer (two funds).