Super Alert – 15 August 2025: review re RG97 disclosures, retirement income strategies, cybersecurity roundtable

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week ASIC announced that it is working with Treasury to review whether RG97 should be amended in relation to fee and cost disclosures for stamp duty payments. APRA and ASIC published speeches delivered by senior figures in relation to the retirement income covenant, while ASIC also released notes from its industry roundtable which focused on cybersecurity.

ASIC – Review in relation to RG97 disclosures

On 13 August 2025, ASIC announced that it is working with industry representatives and Treasury to determine whether some amendments should be made to Regulatory Guide 97 Disclosing fees and costs in PDSs and periodic statements. The proposed amendments relate to ‘requirements to disclose stamp duty payments…[because] [c]oncerns have been raised that the disclosure impacts performance test results and discourages investment in property by superannuation funds’.

ASIC has confirmed that it will prepare a report for the industry by 30 November 2025.

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APRA – Speech in relation to retirement income strategies

On 13 August 2025, APRA published a speech delivered by its Deputy Chair, Margaret Cole. Ms Cole predominantly spoke about the retirement phase of superannuation and made the following comments:

• APRA estimates that ‘retirement assets in APRA-regulated funds are tracking towards $3 trillion over the next two decades…[h]ow the industry responds to the challenge of sharply higher numbers of members and assets in the retirement phase of superannuation will be critical to retirement outcomes for millions of Australians’;
• ‘progress [in relation to implementing retirement income strategies] has been inconsistent across the industry and, as last year’s survey also identified, trustees have fallen short in tracking and measuring the success of their retirement income strategies’; and
• the retirement phase ‘represents another avenue for members to be at risk from scams, fraud and cyberattacks, at a time of life when many may be more vulnerable to such activity’.

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ASIC – Speech in relation to services to members in the retirement phase

On 13 August 2025, ASIC published a speech delivered by one of its Commissioners, Simone Constant. Like the APRA news item above, Ms Constant’s speech focused on retirement outcomes and made the following remarks:

• ‘New Moneysmart research suggests only one-third of Australians on the cusp of retirement are confident that they will be financially comfortable once they leave the workforce.’
• ‘Retirement and member services are two sides of the same coin. Get them right and it’s good for customers and good for business too. Superannuation might be compulsory, but it’s also got to be competitive.’
• ASIC is ‘seeing some trustees taking a data-driven approach to determining the most effective communication channels for members…online is easy, but it may not always be the most effective. The trustees doing this better are tracking cost per click on their retirement communications, which not only helps with meeting their Best Financial Interest Duty (BFID) but helps on further research and further cases to understand how to improve member communications and campaigns.’

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APRA – Notes from cybersecurity roundtable

On 11 August 2025, APRA released the notes from a superannuation industry roundtable it hosted in July 2025 centred around the theme of recent cyber incidents impacting superannuation funds.

APRA noted that while recent incidents were ‘contained’, its observations were that ‘[e]ntities that responded effectively demonstrated a clear understanding of their control environments, particularly around payments processes, which enabled swift action to interrupt transactions and recover funds’.

Industry representatives in attendance reflected on the incidents and raised the following issues:

• ‘Low overall engagement from members made it more difficult to communicate effectively during the incident risks’. For example, ‘outbound calls proved challenging due to growing community distrust in answering calls from unknown numbers’.
• There were ‘complexities of managing media communications…[given] that the incident would attract significant media attention’.
• ‘Member account safety was prioritised, and proactive communication with affected members led to a generally positive sentiment’.
• ‘Third-party commitment was evident, with many going above and beyond to achieve the best outcomes for members. The combined expertise across the super ecosystem brought significant skills and knowledge to the table.’

Click here for details.

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