Provision of member information protocol

How we provide information

We may provide member information to you through various channels. The main method will be through the member account attribute services (MAAS) using 2 interactions:

• The maintain member account interaction is where you or your administrator reports the member account and receives a response from us containing member information. You're required to report information using the MAAS form.
• The provision of details (POD) service is an optional interaction that allows you and your administrator to request member information we hold. This service can be used  
  • where your member is at risk of becoming lost (in accordance with the regulations) and you require updated member/account information
  • to confirm whether a member meets the criteria of unclaimed money, including whether the member has died
  • to obtain current member details assisting you to contact and inform your members where the insurance on their account is at risk of lapsing and they haven't made an election to maintain insurance
  • there's a defined benefit member account – the POD service will return information about if there is a Division 293 deferred debt.

What information we provide and how you can use it

If the following information is held on our systems, we'll return the information once we receive a message from you or your administrator:

• residential address
• postal address
• email address
• mobile phone number
• date of death
• Division 293 deferred debt account.

Lost members

We can provide information if a fund considers the member is lost according to regulations, or at risk of becoming lost.

A key underlying concept for lost members is that it's the member who is considered lost – not the account.

If the member is already considered and reported as ‘lost’, information we provide may be used as follows:

• Lost uncontactable – you can update a member as ‘not lost’ if they are 'lost – uncontactable' and we provide a new (electronic or non-electronic) address.
• Lost inactive – you can update a member as ‘not lost’ once contact has been made and the member confirms their address (electronic or non-electronic).

We consider ‘new’ to mean the address is both different and more recent in comparison to the funds most recent address on record for the member.

Verification

If an address (electronic or non-electronic) is less than 2 years old and it matches the address you consider to be the most recent contactable address for the member, you have verified the member’s address.

However, if you have reason to believe that the member is no longer at this address (for example, if you've had returned mail), you should contact the member before you can consider verification.

Please review further information in the Lost members register protocol for verified addresses.

Phone numbers

We provide phone numbers for the purposes of contacting your members, but they don't affect the member’s ‘lost’ status.

Member not yet lost but at risk of becoming lost

The legislation states that sharing information relating to an member’s super interest includes assisting a member to find all their super. Similarly, the recipient must use the information only for its intended purpose.

You can't use address information (electronic or non-electronic) from us when the member is not yet lost. Returned data should only be used to update member records once the member has confirmed the address.

If you're unable to engage with the member using the information provided, proceed with ‘lost member’ criteria as per the legislation and update the status through the relevant service.

Unclaimed money

The following is guidance about using information we provide, how you can use it and when you may need to consider the unclaimed money provisions.

Deceased members

You can't use addresses matching on a deceased member accounts to determine whether a member is no longer lost. You can only update the member’s account and evaluate the status of the member under the unclaimed money provisions.

Member aged over 65 years

You can use information provided to evaluate the status of the member. You can use the information to contact your member if:

• the member has reached eligibility age
• you've not received an amount in respect of that member within the last 2 years
• a period of 5 years has passed since you last had contact with the member.

If the reasonable attempts to contact a member are unsuccessful, you can't use the address information to consider them as ‘not lost’. Members meeting these conditions are required to be assessed under the unclaimed money provisions.

If the member is over 65, lost (inactive or uncontactable) but has not yet met the unclaimed superannuation money general provisions, you can use the information we provide in the same manner as Lost members.

 

For further information, see unclaimed superannuation money protocol.

Insurance at risk of lapsing

The Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA) allows us to disclose information to funds for the purpose of assisting members to decide whether to maintain or create their super interests.

A trustee must not provide insurance on an opt out basis to a member who has had a product that has been inactive for 16 months or more, unless the member has directed the trustee to continue providing insurance.

A trustee can't provide opt out insurance for a member under a product, either a MySuper product or a choice product when either the:

• member is under the age of 25 and begins to hold the product on or after 1 October 2019
• balance of the product is less than $6,000 and hasn't been $6,000 or more on or after 1 July 2019.

Where a member meets one of these criteria, the trustee may only provide insurance where the member has elected to obtain or maintain the insurance cover.

Division 293 tax – deferred debt obligations

When Division 293 tax is assessed on a member's defined benefit contribution, the debt is deferred.

For information about Division 293 tax and defined benefit contributions, see Division 293 tax - deferred debt obligations for funds.

Legislative context

You can find technical guidance and specifications in relation to specific services in the relevant Business implementation guide (BIG)External Link.

The disclosure of information about tax affairs of a particular entity is prohibited, except in certain specified circumstances. We can disclose information about an member's super interests to funds or their administrators where it is:

• for the purpose of assisting a member to consider how they want to manage their super interests
• to assist the fund to comply with their obligations under taxation or super law
• to enable funds to find all their members' super interests so that members can make decisions about their super interests
• for the purpose if a member is considered 'lost'
• the recipient of this information needs to ensure that it is only used for the purposes for which it was disclosed.

The relevant legislation is:

• Division 355 of Schedule 1 of theTaxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA)
• Section 44 of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999 (SUMLMA)
• Privacy Act 1988.

Funds should obtain their own advice on the application of the privacy law, including the Australian Privacy Principles, to their operations.

For more information about Privacy Commissioner’s Guidelines to the Australian Privacy Principles, see oaic.gov.auExternal Link.