Overview
- ASIC's review of 45 trustees found many funds failed to treat complaints as an early warning, with nearly one quarter not regularly analysing complaints data and almost one third reporting no systemic issues over two years.
- The regulator said several trustees too readily blamed members for problems instead of investigating root causes such as poor communication, process failures or system errors.
- AFCA reported superannuation complaints jumped by more than 40 percent in the last financial year, and ASIC noted AFCA identified potential systemic issues roughly twice as often as trustees did.
- ASIC highlighted real harm from poor complaint handling, including long delays in paying death benefits and insurance claims, and pointed to a Federal Court penalty requiring Cbus to pay $23.5 million for unreasonable delays.
- The industry peak body accepted the findings and said trustees would act on ASIC's recommendations while the regulator said it will monitor progress and escalate to compliance or enforcement where fixes are not timely; this matters because millions of Australians are shifting from saving into drawing retirement income.