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Cuffelinks Newsletter Edition 294

  •   22 February 2019
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Last week's survey on your satisfaction with the Royal Commission drew an excellent 850 responses, and Leisa Bell summarises the results. Only 12% of respondents were 'very satisfied', showing some level of disappointment from the vast majority. However, 'somewhat satisfied' was a healthier 47%, giving an overall positive satisfaction of 59%. 

At the other end of the scale, 7.5% said 'not worth it' and 17% said 'below expectations' giving a negative overall of 25%. Perhaps the year of explosive evidence raised expectations. About 16% voted for 'average result'. Let's call the overall assessment a solid pass mark for Mr Hayne, as shown below.
  

Overall, are you satisfied with the recommendations in the Final Report?

 

Over 70% thought Hayne had erred in not addressing vertical integration, and a massive 87% thought both individuals and companies should be prosecuted more. They should be reassured by ASIC's actions since the Royal Commission, including Chair James Shipton at Senate Estimates this week. When Senator John Williams pointed to previous weaknesses and asked, "Has ASIC got the message that the expectations of the Australian people are that you are to lift your game?", Shipton replied, "Loud and clear, Senator, loud and clear."

Relatively few people expect to change financial services provider as a result of the Commission. The survey received too many comments to publish them all but we have a large selection here

Franking credit debate motors on

Last week's article on the basics of franking credits has received a near-record 138 comments so far. We reprise the article so you can read the feedback as politicians and media continue to run hard on the subject. Chris Richardson of Deloitte Access Economics told 7.30 on Monday:

"I think the tax benefit should be there but it is being rorted, and rorted on an industrial scale ... Now, that is a basic description of the superannuation system in Australia: lots of Australian shares, low rate of tax."    

However, he was critical of Labor's solution:

"Given the way they're doing it, they're fixing one fairness problem [which] is costing more money than it should ... But they are creating some new fairness problems for some retirees at the same time. There are still a bunch of people who I think will be unfairly treated."

A policy is inefficient if it has different impacts when super is held in an industry fund, in an SMSF, by a pensioner, by a pensioner on 28 March 2018, or in a wrap with mainly pension assets.  
 
Damien Williamson gives a worked example of an SMSF with excess franking under Labor's proposal switching to another asset to maintain income.

In other investment news ...

Charles Dalziel says investors must know whether their fund manager is truly playing a long game, while Roger Montgomery warns of the consequences of the debt deleveraging that is underway in Australia. The economy slows when we don't buy as much stuff.

Ilan Israelstam reports on global Exchange Traded Funds and how Australia has a long way to catch up on the global penetration, and Ben Chong identifies three tech trends which might not be as popular as some we have seen in the past.

Still on ETFs, the White Paper from Vanguard summarises 2018 trends. The remarkable rise of fixed income and global equities asset classes accounted for two-thirds of ETF flows.

 


Graham Hand, Managing Editor

 

For a PDF version of this week’s newsletter articles, click here.

 


 

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