Trending Financial News 20 September 2019
Morrison government moves to limit cash
The Morrison government has introduced a new bill to parliament to ban business cash transactions of $10,000 or more. The new law, Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019, is a response to recommendations of the Black Economy Taskforce and is designed to tackle tax evasion and other criminal activities.
The ban will apply from 1 January 2020 and penalties include fines of up to $25,200 and jail terms up to 2 years.
The bill’s explanatory memo says this “ensures that entities cannot make large payments in cash so as to avoid creating records of the payment and facilitating their participation in the black economy and undertaking relate illicit activities.”
Morrison cash ban criticised
The Morrison government is pressing ahead with its proposed ban on many cash transactions over $10,000 despite plenty of criticism.
The accountant’s professional association, CPA Australia, said there was no strong evidence to justify an “extraordinary penalty” for the use of legal tender.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the government should not be undermining the value of cash.
The new proposed law will not prevent deposits and withdrawals from banks of more than $10,000.
What is exempted from the cash ban?
The Morrison government has introduced a proposed new law to parliament to ban many cash transactions over $10,000. There are some exemptions, including withdrawals and deposits to bank and other authorised deposit taking institutions like credit unions.
Person to person transactions, like buying a second hand car, are also mostly excluded from the ban. Foreign currency exchange services will also be exempt.
The new bill proposes that the Treasurer can specify transactions that will not be covered by the limit.
Nothing in the proposed cash ban bill makes it an offence to be in possession of cash of any amount.
Where’s our $100s?
Australia’s $100 notes are disappearing, with people who want to store their money at home, under mattresses and in the sock drawer suspected of hoarding them.
Relatively few $100 banknotes are in actual circulation, the Reserve Bank says in its Bulletin for September 2019.
$36.8 billion in $100 notes have been issued and that represents 45.5 per cent of the total value of all banknotes in circulation.
Which super fund is most popular with members?
Graph courtesy of BankingDay
Superannuation fund member satisfaction is generally higher at industry super funds than at retail super funds according to Roy Morgan Research.
62.8 per cent of people with superannuation in an industry fund reported being satisfied with their fund’s performance, up 1.1 per cent points on last year. This is well above the average for retail funds at 57.4 per cent (down 1.2 percentage points).
The best performer across all major funds is Cbus (73.2 per cent of their members are satisfied), followed by Catholic Super (71.3 per cent) and Unisuper (69.6 per cent).
Three retail funds made it in the top 12 – Macquarie with 68.2 per cent, Mercer on 64.4 per cent and Suncorp Super – 61.1 per cent.