An SMSF needs its own bank account. We provide access to the Macquarie Cash Management Account (CMA) for the following reasons:
Keeping your SMSF money separate from your personal money is essential when you have an SMSF. Because most people don’t use Macquarie for their everyday personal banking, using Macquarie helps ensure no costly mistakes.
It is important to note that it is not compulsory to use the Macquarie CMA to use the services of Grow SMSF. We will only provide you with information on the Macquarie CMA and assist you with the administrative aspects of setting up the account based on your instruction. Please refer to our Advice Disclaimer for further information.
Yes. One of the most fundamental principles of a self-managed super fund is separation of assets. A separate cryptocurrency exchange account is needed in the name of the SMSF. Separation of assets means that assets, accounts and investments of an SMSF must be in the name of the trustee of the fund on behalf of the SMSF and cannot be mixed or intertwined with assets and investments of the members / trustees of the fund. If a trustee fails to keep assets of an SMSF separate the breach of the regulations must be reported to the ATO by the independent auditor of the fund. The trustee(s) could be personally fined or in extreme cases the ATO may deem the fund non-complying
The following is direct form the ATO who regulate SMSFs and enforce the rules when it comes to diversification: “While a trustee can choose to invest all their retirement savings in one asset or asset class, certain risks such as return, volatility and liquidity risks can be minimised if a trustee chooses to invest in a variety of assets. This is called a diversified portfolio which helps to spread investment risk.” Regardless of what you think about cryptocurrency as an investment, it is a very new and emerging asset class that has high level of volatility. With Grow, we support not just cryptocurrency SMSF investments, but also ASX shares and ETFs as well as US stocks and ETFs. This enables SMSF trustees to put together a well-diversified investment portfolio and ensure they meet the diversification requirements. Can an SMSF be invested 100% in cryptocurrency assets? No one can stop an SMSF trustee from investing a large portion of the funds portfolio into crypto (or any asset class), however the onus is on them to validate why the lack of diversification (and the high level of risk) is appropriate for their fund.
It’s important to understand that for an SMSF to invest in cryptocurrency, the wallet address associated with the holdings must be in the name of the SMSF. Non-Australian crypto exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase etc. DO NOT SUPPORT SMSF ACCOUNTS, which makes registering an SMSF account with these exchanges impossible and still meets the strict compliance rules that self-managed super funds must comply with. Therefore, Grow supports the following popular Australian-based businesses that support SMSF accounts and have adequate reporting that will satisfy our independent auditors and the ATO:
This list may expand over time. If you have an enquiry about a different crypto exchange, please get in touch with us. Grow supports most Australian-based exchanges and crypto on external wallets (including cold storage).
There are a number of differences if you were to compare Grow SMSF to many of the low cost online only service providers available. We recommend anyone comparing SMSF service providers look at the following as part of their research:
The above is not a comprehensive list. Take a look at our blog to find more specific information on comparing Grow SMSF to other service providers.
As soon as cryptocurrency SMSF assets are transferred off the exchange to an external wallet (including a cold-storage wallet) tracking and reporting become more cumbersome and manual. In addition, where SMSF crypto assets are held under an external wallet address, extra audit work and declarations are required to confirm the beneficial ownership of those assets is with the SMSF. For clarity, Grow will levy an additional fee of $220 per annum per external wallet to compensate for the additional manual work required. This is one of the few additional fees.