ASIC issues 'wake-up call' to trustees on member complaints

The corporate regulator is calling on superannuation trustees to improve oversight of issues arising from member complaints, noting many are not doing enough to use complaints as early warning signs of broader issues.

In its Report 844 Lessons to be learned: How trustees use insights from superannuation complaints, ASIC conducted an in-depth review of 10 super trustees. Additionally, it conducted a targeted whole-of-industry assessment of all 45 superannuation trustees.

Out of the 10 trustees, five trustees including Aware Super, Hostplus, Equity Trustees, Care Super and Mercer identified zero systemic issues from their data analysis of the member complaints received between January 2024 to June 2025.

Macquarie identified the highest number of systemic issues at 14 member complaints, whereas AustralianSuper reported 11. Australian Retirement Trust (ART) identified eight.

"We see low levels of systemic issue identification as a potential red flag, not evidence of better performance, even more so where trustees have high complaint volumes or large member bases," ASIC commissioner Simone Constant said.

"Just because trustees don't identify broader problems affecting their members doesn't mean they aren't there."

In its whole-of-industry assessment, ASIC found the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) identified systemic issues from complaints it received at almost twice the rate that trustees identified systemic issues from complaints they received.

"Alarmingly, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority appears better at picking up issues than industry," Constant said.

Constant added complaints are the "canary in the coalmine" for trustees, warning them about issues affecting their members, such as service delays, payment errors, communications failures, breakdowns in processes, and even fraud and misconduct.

"When trustees fail to learn from their complaints, small problems left unidentified, unattended or unresolved can snowball into widespread failures that expose members to harm and erode trust in the superannuation system," she said.

"Complaints are the voices of the funds' customers trying to talk to their trustees. Super funds must listen to what complaints are telling them."

ASIC also found several trustees subject to its in-depth review too readily attributed the root cause of complaints to members, including members' expectations, awareness or error.

"Blaming the customer is not a complaints strategy. Trustees need to look behind the complaint and ask whether poor communication, unclear processes, delays or system failures are driving member dissatisfaction," Constant said.

"If a member cannot access their benefit payment, cannot get a timely response, or doesn't receive the support they are entitled to or the services they are paying for, the consequences can be serious. These are not abstract governance issues; they affect people's lives and the retirement savings they have worked hard to build."

Constant said ASIC will continue to focus on member service concerns and where trustees fail to act on weaknesses and members are exposed to harm, ASIC will consider the full range of regulatory responses available to it.

In November 2023, ASIC sued TelstraSuper, now part of Aware Super, for failing to comply with its internal dispute resolution (IDR) procedures.

Earlier this year, the Federal Court found the super fund failed to respond to many complaints within the mandated 45-day period and, in some cases, failed to justify the delay or inform members of their right to complain to AFCA.

Trustees have enforceable obligations to maintain IDR arrangements that meet ASIC's requirements, including requirements relating to identifying systemic issues from member complaints, Report 844 read.

"The message to trustees is simple: take ownership. If your arrangements to learn from complaints are not fit for purpose, fix them now. If you need further assurance or external support to meet ASIC's requirements, get it," Constant said.

"We are already looking at what we have learned in this review to help us shape and target our next because member services that live up to the promises of superannuation are increasingly important to every Australian."