New Trustee Fee

4 January 2022

The Trustee has amended the Active Super trust deed in response to recent changes to the legal and regulatory environment. Those changes include new laws that prevent superannuation funds from paying any Commonwealth penalties from the assets of the superannuation fund from 1 January 2022. 

Active Super is a profit-to-member fund which means profits are kept in the fund for the benefit of members rather than being distributed to, or set aside for, the Trustee’s shareholders. 

As a result, the Trustee does not have any surplus capital, profits or other reserves to pay fines or penalties. If the trust deed were not amended, then the Trustee would have been at risk of insolvency and would therefore be unable to continue to operate.

The changes to the trust deed will allow for a new Trustee Fee to build a capital reserve, which could be used to cover any potential Commonwealth penalties and allow the Trustee to keep serving members. The Trustee has obtained advice from the Supreme Court of NSW that this change is justified and reasonable. 

Both the Trustee Fee and the capital reserve will be capped, and the Trustee’s constitution has been amended to ensure that the capital reserve will only be used for these purposes. Active Super is investigating all avenues and opportunities to minimise the impact on our members’ returns. 

We will provide further details in coming months. There will be no change to fees charged to members’ accounts before 30 June 2022 and members will receive at least 30 days’ notice in the event that there is a change in fees they pay.