Antinuclear

Does your superannuation fund invest in uranium mining?

Disclosure would also allow fund members who oppose uranium mining, for example, to discover whether their retirement savings are invested in a miner with substantial uranium mining interests.

Portfolio details must be disclosed, SMH, John Collett, August 20, 2011 — Super funds will soon list their investments for all to see  The Australian Securities and Investments Commission wants superannuation funds and fund managers to disclose the investments they hold. Disclosure among super funds and fund managers is patchy. Some will list the biggest 10 holdings in their disclosure documents and perhaps on their websites.

But investors are mostly left guessing on how their super is invested – the biggest investment most people will have alongside the family home.

ASIC wants super funds and managed funds to disclose their investments by the middle of next year and will consult with the industry about how it should be done. If the industry does not come up with satisfactory guidelines, the regulator is threatening to ask the government to make it mandatory that they disclose.

The call by the regulator comes as it was reported that the chairman of ASIC, Greg Medcraft, was denied information by his super fund on what investments his fund held.

The 2010 Cooper Review into superannuation recommended that superannuation funds regularly disclose their portfolio holdings.

Transparency

Disclosure would help shed light on any related-party interests that the funds’ trustees may have made. Whether, for example, there are investments being made where there is a benefit to those running the funds……..

Disclosure would also allow fund members who oppose uranium mining, for example, to discover whether their retirement savings are invested in a miner with substantial uranium mining interests.

However, on portfolio-level disclosure the early indications are that fund managers and super funds are not intent on immediately complying with ASIC’s request…….

Global laggard

In March this year, researcher Morningstar released a survey of 22 countries that showed, among other things, that Australian and New Zealand fund managers were the only ones not required to disclose their funds’ portfolio holdings

http://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-funds/portfolio-details-must-be-disclosed-20110819-1j1zt.html

August 22, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, religion and ethics