APRA imposes license conditions on Fiducian super

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

1 April 2026

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has imposed additional licence conditions on Fiducian Portfolio Services Limited related to improving its investment governance frameworks.

The regulator said the conditions were aimed at addressing “prudential concerns relating to its investment governance frameworks and practices, including oversight of platform investment options made available to members, and its board’s effectiveness in discharging its duties and obligations.

The APRA announcement noted that Fiducian is trustee of the Fiducian Superannuation Fund and has approximately 9,779 member accounts and over $3.1 billion in funds under management.

It said the imposition of additional licence conditions follows APRA’s thematic review of the investment governance, strategic planning and member outcomes practices of superannuation trustees that offer platforms (platform trustees). The review identified deficiencies in Fiducian’s onboarding processes and practices for new investment options, investment option monitoring and reporting, management of conflicts of interests, and board governance and oversight.

Specifically, APRA’s review of Fiducian identified concerns in relation to:

• lack of sufficiently rigorous, well-defined and consistently applied investment selection criteria, and adequacy of due diligence undertaken for new investment options;
• design and operational effectiveness of investment option monitoring and reporting frameworks in identifying and responding to performance and risk concerns;
• management of potential conflicts of interest, particularly in relation to related-party service providers that offer, manage, or advise on investment options made available on the platform; and
• deficiencies in board governance, including the quality of information provided and subsequent deliberation, and effectiveness of board oversight.

Under the additional licence conditions, effective 2 April 2026, Fiducian is required to:

• appoint an independent expert to undertake separate reviews of certain high-risk products on its platform investment menus and its investment governance and conflicts management frameworks;
• appoint an independent expert to undertake a review of the effectiveness of its board of directors and board committees;
• develop and implement uplift plans to address identified gaps from the independent expert reviews, and provide APRA with assurance that remediation actions are complete and effective; and
• undertake a further review of its investment menu against the enhanced onboarding and monitoring requirements to determine ongoing suitability of each investment option.

Fiducian must also refrain from onboarding certain new high-risk investment options to its platform until an independent expert confirms the option has gone through an adequate onboarding process and an accountable person attests that all reasonable steps were taken to ensure the option is in members’ best financial interests.

Commenting on the imposition, APRA deputy chair, Margaret Cole said: “APRA gave a clear and public warning to platform trustees last October that we would be escalating supervisory intensity as necessary to ensure that platform trustees were taking appropriate action to lift investment governance and member outcomes practices.

“These actions, together with APRA’s enforcement response in December 2025, are consistent with that approach and reflect APRA’s risk-based approach to enforcement, which prioritises issues and entities that pose the most serious prudential risks.

“APRA will continue to coordinate closely with ASIC to address investment governance weaknesses identified in platform trustees,” Cole said.

Fiducian later issued a statement in which it acknowledged receipt of the license conditions.

“Fiducian respects APRA’s role as Australia’s prudential regulator and takes the requirements raised by them seriously. We are reviewing the matter and are committed to engaging constructively with APRA as always,” it said.

“Fiducian has established frameworks for investment governance, investment options and board operations and shall appoint independent experts as required, to review and recommend any improvement opportunities which Fiducian will implement. The aforesaid additional licence conditions do not affect the continuing operations of the Fund or safety of members’ assets.”