31-day minimum term set for church funds

Little scrutinised deposit-taking entities, many of them run by churches, will have to conform to a new regulatory regime from July 2015, which is designed to reduce the potential for retail investors to form a view they are investing in "bank-like" or "ADI-like" products.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority released its final views on the issue yesterday.

From 1 July 2015 registered financial corporations and religious charitable development funds will not be allowed to offer or accept new at-call accounts, APRA said.

At-call accounts in existence at 30 June 2015 may continue until the end of December 2015.

Debentures with a minimum 31-day maturity will be allowed.

APRA research last year found there were 59 religious charitable development funds in Australia raising, in aggregate, more than A$7 billion in liabilities.