ASIC report findings hit platform super trustees

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

29 June 2026

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has fired a shot over the bows of platform superannuation trustees after identifying significant regulatory failings in a new report.

The ASIC report (REP 833) has identified failings in terms of protecting retirement savings including gaps in monitoring “harmful” advice fee deductions, unusual fees and investment pattern and high risk superannuation switching activity.

Commenting on the report findings, ASIC Commissioner, Simon Constant said there was no excuse for the troubling lack of protections put in place by some trustees.

“It’s clear some trustees are not doing enough to protect their members, despite repeated warnings from ASIC and APRA about the dangers of poor oversight. Nor have they learned lessons from the collapses of the Shield Master Fund and First Guardian Master Fund, which cost more than 11,000 Australians around $1 billion in retirement savings.

“In one disturbing case, a trustee failed to take further action for 13 months after becoming aware of suspicious activity from a representative of an advice licensee. During that time, another representative of that licensee submitted applications to rollover superannuation balances containing the falsified signatures of a deceased adviser.

“Many of the clear gaps in oversight are deeply concerning and difficult to justify. Trustees should not expose their members’ retirement savings to unacceptable risks in the pursuit of volume growth.

“In this age of rapidly evolving technology and data-driven intelligence, it is extraordinary to see some trustees not carrying out any checks in a month despite a 75% adverse finding rate, and others being comfortable with limited, almost entirely manual indicators to monitor potential harm,’ Commissioner Constant said.

ASIC’s review identified the following areas requiring immediate attention from trustees:

• Persistent gaps in advice fee controls, which in some cases have regressed over the past two years. One trustee proposed a fee cap of $30,000 — well beyond caps identified in ASIC Report 781 Review of superannuation trustee practices: Protecting members from harmful advice charges (REP 781).
• Limited checks of advice documents with half of the trustees reporting they did not conduct any checks for at least one of the months in ASIC’s review period.
• Insufficient focus on understanding the advice licensees’ business models, including whether they use lead generators or other third‑party referral sources.
• Inadequate monitoring of key risk indicators, such as member churn, patterns in fees, holding limits and unusual fund flows.

Amid continued growth in demand for platform funds, Commissioner Constant said it had never been more important for platform trustees to take the necessary steps to uphold confidence.

“In the 10 years to June 2025, superannuation platforms have experienced extraordinary growth, with a more than three-fold increase in member benefits, from $123 billion to $396 billion, compared to the sector which more than doubled. Over the same period, advice fees charged from superannuation platforms have increased four-fold to $2.3 billion.

“We acknowledge that much of this growth has been driven by the segment’s innovative retirement options, and by Australians looking for more control over their superannuation investments. But this only underscores the importance of prudent trustee oversight that monitors for harmful risks to retirement savings. Trustees are accountable to their members for this and their members deserve to have confidence in their stewardship.

‘”Despite being well aware of the dangers of poor oversight — from the Royal Commission’s exposure of fees for no service to the egregious conduct exposed in the Shield and First Guardian failings — some trustees failed to establish basic protections, like looking into an advice licensee’s,” she said.