Already a subscriber?The Coalition will oppose any move to tighten the wholesale investor test, as Labor grapples with backlash from the start-up sector over calls to limit access to venture capital to investors worth more than $4.5 million.
Mr Jones has since stressed no decisions have been made on changes to the thresholds, and Treasury’s report to the government has been delayed due to backlash from the start-up sector, which is alarmed at calls by regulators to raise the threshold to $4.5 million. Treasury is expected to provide its advice to Mr Jones in the near future.
Applying Reserve Bank and Treasury income and asset price assumptions, the number of sophisticated investors could reach 29.1 per cent, or 6.78 million adults, by 2031, and 43.6 per cent, or 11.5 million adults, by 2041, Mr Phillips found. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has urged Mr Jones to index the test thresholds to adjust for two decades of inflation.Were Labor to adopt ASIC’s recommendation, that would result in a net assets test of about $4.5 million and a gross income test of $450,000.