Check against delivery

Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks to Margaret^[1] for opening the conversation and setting us up for an excellent discussion today.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet, the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

I’d also like to acknowledge all the distinguished guests in the room. It’s great to be here with you to outline our priorities at the start of what will be a significant year for super.

As you’ve heard from Margaret, this year brings in new era of accountability and governance for super.

This includes the Government’s proposed mandatory and enforceable service standards^[2] to drive improved claims handling practices in superannuation and insurance, which we warmly welcome.

Our Chair Joe Longo said just this week publicly that one of the key things top of mind this year, for him and for ASIC, is super^[3]. Particularly whether super funds are doing all they should for their members, or customers.

As you know, super has been the subject of significant regulatory and enforcement action from both ASIC and APRA.

Just to give you a sense of that significance, last year ASIC had five super trustees in court, responsible for more than 5 million members – or around one in five super accounts in Australia.

In 2025, you can expect more of the same from ASIC. What was important and strategic for us last year remains so this year.

We will continue to ensure trustees are transparent with their members.

That they are accountable, from the board down all the way through to their end member.

And that they consistently meet the fair expectations of their members – their customers.

We will be consistent too. Our priorities in superannuation are unchanged – because more change is needed.

We’ll continue our strategic focus on driving better retirement outcomes and improving member services.

Our enforcement action will continue to target member service failures as well as misconduct exploiting superannuation savings.

Last year, we laid the foundation for a multi-year project to drive trustees to improve member services. This year, we’ll build on that work as we move into the second phase of the project.

Our goal this year is to see through a step-change in super.

Trustees aren’t just stewards. They’re service providers and some of our largest financial institutions.

I’m so pleased to see the discussion about this evolving, including during the previous session^[4] and as I looked at the agenda for today and tomorrow here.

As super trustee chairs, you are pivotal to driving this step-change – by continuously working to improve and strengthen governance.

I’ve laid out our high-level priorities for superannuation this year. Now I want to talk about three areas we’ll keep diving deep on in 2025.

Member services

The first area is member services.

As you know, we have a significant project underway on death benefit claims handling across the superannuation sector that is now coming to a head.

It’s no secret that when we lifted the hood on claims handling, we saw a lot more work was needed around policies, processes, and metrics.

Last year, I wrote to your CEOs^[5], some of whom are in the room today, outlining areas of concern and calling for urgent action.

In the coming months, we will release our public report. We will share our observations and signal areas for improvement. And we expect every trustee to take note and act if needed.

We will follow up later this year to track trustees’ progress. This is not going away – expect to keep hearing from us about this.

This year, we will also look at a fresh surveillance of how trustees are – or are not – meeting service delivery requirements for members.

Like all our work, this surveillance will be driven by data, trends, and evidence.

But as always, we will be transparent and communicative with trustees about where we decide to focus our efforts.

Scams

That leads me to our second area of focus this year – members being scammed.

Data and digital resilience is a consistent area of focus for ASIC.

Over the past two years, we have published reports on the anti-scam practices of banks to lift the bar on prevention, detection, and responses.

Through this work, we’ve identified scams in super as an emerging area of risk.

Reported losses so far are low. But the losses for those who have been affected are significant. Life-changing amounts of money in some cases, gone.

Early action now could prevent such losses from becoming more widespread.

According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, almost half (47%) of Australians have been caught up in a data breach [in 2023]^[6].

That is a lot of personal information out there that could be potentially used by scammers.

It’s also worth noting that Australians aged over 65 are the only age group to lose more to scammers since the National Anti-Scam Centre commenced operation^[7].

This age group is a big target. Having reached super preservation age, these people typically have bigger account balances – and fewer barriers to accessing it.

It would be devastating to work your whole life only to have your hard work siphoned away.

Or to suffer a life-changing injury – and make it through the claims process, which is not easy as we’ve learnt – only to have your benefit stolen through identity theft.

This has happened^[8] and will continue to happen unless something changes.

Every part of the financial system must pull its weight in the fight against scams, so I wrote to trustees yesterday, many of you in the room asking them to act now^[9]. And I would say thank you for the many responses I’ve already had from people within your organisations.

This is not a responsibility that can be outsourced to your administrators. Super trustees should have their own strategy to prevent, detect, and respond to scams.

It’s not often we get to stop a car crash before it happens. But that is the opportunity we have now.

If this issue becomes more widespread, you can expect we will bring the full force and effect of the law to address it.

We filed proceedings late last year against HSBC^[10] for failing to protect their customers from scammers.

We won’t hesitate to act when organisations fail to comply with their obligations to protect their customers.

Private markets

The final area of focus I want to – briefly – mention is private markets.

Driving consistency and transparency across markets became a strategic priority for ASIC last year.

This reflects the changing dynamic between public and private markets and emerging impacts – including to superannuation members.

More than $400 billion of super assets are now invested in private markets.

These investments have been a driving force in these shifting market dynamics.

Companies staying private for longer. Companies leaving the ASX.

But these investments also have implications for super fund members, in terms of valuations and liquidity.

In the first half of the year, we’ll publish a discussion paper asking if the current market settings are right to support our economy – and Australians in their retirement.

As super trustee chairs, you’re an important voice in this conversation. We really want to hear from you and your organisations.

But we don’t just want you to tell us what you’re doing. We want you to show us.

We are conducting surveillances of the financial reporting and auditing of targeted super funds, with a particular focus on expenses and valuations.

This is the first time super funds have been subject to scrutiny of this kind.

We want to be sure that trustees can back up what they’re saying with evidence. That their members are protected from risky investments. So that their money will be there for them when they retire.

Conclusion

To conclude, ASIC’s priorities for superannuation remain the same this year because there is more to do – to bring about the step-change we need from you as stewards and service providers.

Super is now worth more than GDP^[11],[12]. It’s the most significant source of wealth for Australians, outside of their family home. And it’s a key service provider in moments of vulnerability.

With the retirement waves crashing on our shores, we have to ensure the impact is sustainable – and that super keeps working safely and consistently, for the confidence of all participating Australians.

We at ASIC will continue to communicate openly with trustees about our strategic focus areas and related workplan – to embed the consistency of our expectations and deliver on the messages and momentum of the step change we believe began in 2024.

Thanks to Conexus Financial for inviting me here today. I look forward to the conversation.

^[1] Margaret Cole, Deputy Chair, APRA

^[2] 28 January 2025, Mandatory service standards for the superannuation industry | Treasury Ministers

^[3] 25 January 2025, The Australian, “Super sector faces fresh corporate crackdown”

^[4] Ted Talk on ‘Fostering innovation to drive member experience - 2025 Chair Forum - Investment Magazine

^[5] 19 November 2024, Letter to CEOs of superannuation trustees, “How well is your fund dealing with death benefit claims?”

^[6] Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey 2023 | OAIC

^[7] Scam losses decline, but more work to do as Australians lose $2.7 billion | ACCC

^[8] Superannuation complaints | Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)

^[9] ASIC calls out superannuation trustees for weak scam and fraud practices | ASIC

^[10] 24-280MR ASIC sues HSBC Australia alleging failures to adequately protect customers from scams | ASIC

^[11] APRA releases superannuation statistics for September 2024 | APRA

^[12] Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, September 2024 | Australian Bureau of Statistics