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APRA unconcerned about Labor franking credit cuts
The Australian 12:00am March 11, 2019
Michael Roddan
EXCLUSIVE The prudential regulator has not conducted any modelling of the likely impact on the financial system of Labor’s proposed cuts to franking credits, leaving open the question of any impact on bank shares.
A freedom of information request by The Australian shows the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the body responsible for ensuring the stability of the financial system and the resilience of the banking sector, has no documents, impact statements, economic modelling or contingency plans relating to the implications of removing refundable franking credits for individual companies or the financial system as a whole. APRA said the “documents cannot be found or do not exist”.
Labor’s proposal, which would end the process introduced by the Howard government under which shareholders without a tax liability can receive a cash refund for excess franking credits, has been criticised by numerous financial companies, businesses, fund managers and superannuation bodies, which warn companies may be unable to source funding to run their operations.
Citigroup researchers found the share prices of nation’s major banks could fall by up to 13 per cent in the wake of the franking credit change, and a prominent critic of the proposal, Wilson Asset Management chairman Geoff Wilson, claimed the measure would have an “impact on the entire economy”, while actuarial firm Rice Warner believes as much as 25 per cent of bank shares held in self-managed super funds will be sold off.
If such an event happened it could hurt sentiment towards major financial companies and limit their ability to raise funds.
“It would not be appropriate for APRA to comment on government or opposition policy proposals,” an APRA spokesman said. “That is our standard position to all such media inquiries asking us to publicly express a view on a policy that either the government or opposition is pursuing.”
On Friday, Matt Comyn, the chief executive of the nation’s largest lender, Commonwealth Bank, said the company had not modelled the impact of Labor’s policy.
But he warned the franking credit cuts would have an isolated impact on the company.
“It’s very hard to determine what the impact might be on a share price or an individual investor’s preference for a particular share or asset class,” Mr Comyn told the House of Representatives economics committee.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson, the chairman of the committee investigating Labor’s proposal, asked whether the policy would affect the viability or stability of the banking sector, to which Mr Comyn said: “Not per se.”
“Things that impact on the viability and performance of the banking sector tend to be far more so around the broader policy debate and the performance the Australian economy,” Mr Comyn said.
Appearing at the same hearing, Westpac boss Brian Hartzer said Labor’s policy “potentially” affected the bank’s market capitalisation.
“It seems a reasonable proposition. It’s difficult for us to assess or quantify that, because we don’t know what the tax situation of all of our shareholders is, and there can be ups and downs in that,” Mr Hartzer said.
