Customer Data for Listed Securities

The ownership of the shares in which the Trustee's have invested in, requires them to be in the name of the fund’s trustee's. This is the case for both types of trustee structure – individual trustee and corporate trustee (in which the company directors are the fund members).

For individual trustees, each trustee’s name must be recorded on the investment. If there’s a change in membership, for eg. one trustee is replaced with another, then the ownership of the shares will need to be updated.

A corporate trustee, in contrast, is simpler for investment ownership. Fund investments are held in the name of the company trustee. Any changes to the company directors (resignations & replacements) do not impact investment ownership.

Currently, SMSF Auditors verify the holdings mostly from bank statements such as CommSec & NABTrade etc. For this reason, the auditors need to check directly with the share registries regarding the ownership that a SMSF is claiming to have on listed securities. Many a times the shares are sold outside the bank's share trade portal which are not updated with the bank. Instead of relying on the data provided by the fund administrator, an auditor can complete your own check to note the ownership of the shares and raise any concerns which you notice. Hence, it is advisable for the SMSF Auditor to conduct their own verification from the respective share registries while conducting the audit of the fund.

For more information, please contract info@smsfezy.com.au.