$9.4bn paid in early release scheme: ASFA
Over a million individual payments totalling around $9.4 billion from the early access to super funds scheme have been made as of 7 May, says the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).
According to ASFA, approximately 1,175,000 early super access payments have been made to individuals, as compared to the estimated 855,000 payments made as at 30 April.
“Funds have worked co-operatively with government and regulators to change systems to process this unprecedented volume of transactions and ensure early release financial hardship payments have been made quickly and safely,” ASFA chief executive Dr Martin Fahy said.
The ASFA analysis suggested that, in the first three weeks of the scheme, up to 95 per cent of applications have benefited from straight-through processing and triggered only a modest amount of exception handling.
It also suggested preliminary estimates indicated that close to 98 per cent of applications had been paid within five working days, fitting with the limit imposed by APRA.
ASFA noted that there were some exceptions where cases required more than five days to resolve an application.
ASFA has estimated that the average withdrawal is around $8,000 as some applicants are withdrawing only what they need instead of the maximum amount.
However, it also said a relatively small number of claims were rejected by funds due to anomalies or concerns regarding evidence of potential fraud.
ASFA said in a statement that the reports of fraud highlight the need for funds to investigate further if their processing systems raise a red flag in regard to an application.
The ATO temporarily paused the early access to super scheme on Friday following reports of fraud from the Australian Federal Police during a Senate enquiry.
It resumed early access activity today amid ongoing AFP investigations into the alleged fraud cases.
