The regulator has warned trustee failures, cyber risks and high-risk products threaten retirement outcomes as $750 billion shifts to retirement and is making them its regulatory priorities.
ASIC is tracking major shifts across Australia’s financial system with superannuation and retirement outcomes emerging as key regulatory priorities for 2026.
The corporate regulator’s chair Joe Longo said continued cost-of-living strains, rising household debt, geopolitical tensions and rapid advances in artificial intelligence are reshaping financial services and increasing volatility, while also driving a surge in AI-enabled cybercrime.
Longo highlighted operational failures by superannuation fund trustees as a key risk area, noting member service delays, inadequate support, weak IT infrastructure and cyber resilience, and escalating fraud and scam risks.
“Those operational failures by trustees or administrators can result in significant financial losses, compound distress for people facing difficult circumstances, and of course erode trust in the system as a whole.”
With nearly three million Australians expected to become eligible to access their superannuation over the next decade, ASIC warned that more than $750 billion is projected to move from accumulation into retirement, increasing the importance of operational resilience across the sector.
Longo also raised concerns about consumers losing retirement savings through high-risk investments, particularly where aggressive marketing and standardised advice models drive superannuation switching into unsuitable products.
“Aggressive marketing, lead-generation and ‘cookie-cutter’ advice models have been driving switches of superannuation into complex, high-risk investments that are often unsuitable for average consumers, for example through certain managed investment schemes.”
According to the regulator, it is working with government and consumer groups to address regulatory gaps and deliver education campaigns, while pursuing enforcement actions, including 12 court cases related to the Shield and First Guardian matters, to hold individuals and organisations to account.
APRA escalates supervision of trustee governance and operations
ASIC’s warnings come amid heightened prudential scrutiny from APRA, which has recently imposed additional licence conditions on multiple superannuation trustees over governance, risk management and member-outcome concerns.
APRA imposed licence conditions on Equity Trustees Superannuation (ETSL) following deficiencies in onboarding and monitoring platform investment options, due diligence processes, conflict-of-interest management and risk identification.
ETSL was instructed to appoint an independent expert to review its investment menus and governance framework, implement remediation actions, reassess the suitability of investment options and refrain from onboarding certain high-risk products until enhanced processes are independently verified.
APRA deputy chair, Margaret Cole, said: “APRA reiterates robust investment governance, including in relation to onboarding and monitoring of platform investment options, is critical to safeguard the interests of members. The accountabilities of trustees are the same irrespective of their business model and cannot be outsourced.”
APRA has also imposed licence conditions on HESTA following governance and risk management deficiencies during its transition to outsourced administration providers, which resulted in a “severe, prolonged disruption to member services and caused direct harm to members”.
HESTA is now required to undertake independent reviews of its risk management framework and board effectiveness.
HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey said the fund was cooperating with APRA, apologised to members for delays and committed to implementing improvements following the administration transition.
Earlier licence conditions imposed on Australian Ethical Superannuation over related-party expenditure practices further signalled APRA’s willingness to escalate supervisory intensity to lift governance and member outcomes across the sector.
