Newsletter
July 2010 Newsletter
SMSFs and Instalment Warrants: Rules to be Tightened
The Government proposes to amend the superannuation law to reduce the prudential risks for superannuation funds investing in limited recourse borrowing arrangements (eg instalment warrant arrangements).
The Government hopes to achieve this by repealing the provision in the superannuation legislation which allows a trustee of a regulated superannuation fund to borrow money using limited instalment warrants, and replacing it with two new provisions.
These new provisions seek to ensure that:
- the recourse of the lender (or any other person) against a superannuation fund trustee for default on the borrowing is limited to rights relating to the acquirable asset;
- the asset within the arrangement can only be replaced in prescribed circumstances that arise from owning the original asset; and
- the borrowing is referable and identifiable only over a single asset (excluding money) or a collection of assets which are identical and are treated as a single asset.