Kurt Groeneveld, who was a non-executive director of Trio from November 2005 to April 2007, prior to Trio’s collapse in 2009, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
Under the EU, Mr Groeneveld will not act as a trustee or as a responsible officer of a body corporate that is a trustee, investment manager or custodian of an APRA-regulated superannuation entity for three years and six months.
APRA said it was concerned Mr Groeneveld may have contravened the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act by failing to carry out his duties properly as a director of a superannuation trustee.
Specifically, APRA said there was a failure by the Trio board to cause Trio to cease making investments with related-party investment managers and in related-party investments, and to redeem existing investments that had been made with related-party investment managers and in related party investments where:
- there were liquidity risks associated with the investments;
- the investments had been made on the basis of insufficient due diligence and in the absence of independent recommendations; and
- there was inadequate monitoring in connection with the performance of the related-party investment managers and in respect of the related-party investments.
APRA was also concerned further investments were made with the related-party investment managers and in the related party investments. The investments remain unlikely to be recovered, APRA said.
Mr Groeneveld has expressed regret at the losses caused to members of the superannuation entities from the failure of the investments in the related parties, according to APRA.
APRA member Helen Rowell said the acceptance of an enforceable undertaking was an appropriate resolution of the matters between Mr Groeneveld and APRA.
“APRA relies on superannuation trustees to carry out their duties and act in the best interests of members. APRA will continue to pursue directors who fail to meet their duties to ensure that they do not continue to operate in the superannuation industry, so as to maintain confidence in the superannuation system,” Ms Rowell said.
