Super Alert – 17 July 2026: ASIC & APRA updated statements of intent, ATO guidance on SuperStream release authority lodgments

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week, ASIC and APRA published their updated statements of intent in response to the Government’s release of its statement of expectations for the regulators. Treasury published a supplementary explanatory memorandum clarifying the obligations of climate-reporting entities. Meanwhile, the ATO released practical guidance on SuperStream release authority lodgments and launched its new Super Product Register.

APRA – Updated Statement of Expectations and Statement of Intent published

On 16 July 2026, APRA published the Government’s updated Statement of Expectations for APRA together with its own Statement of Intent in response, which are in force from July 2026. Per the Statement of Expectations, the Government expects APRA to ‘promote a stable, safe and efficient superannuation system that delivers for members and holds trustees to account for performance and member outcomes’. The Government expects APRA to support this outcome by ‘ensuring increased transparency of member outcomes, performance, and expenditure by the superannuation sector’.

In its Statement of Intent, APRA stated that it will continue to drive improvements in superannuation transparency and efficiency and seek to maintain low levels of member exposure to underperforming funds and funds with sub-standard practices, including in relation to expenditure.

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ASIC – Updated Statement of Expectations and Statement of Intent published

On 16 July 2026, ASIC published the Government’s updated Statement of Expectations for ASIC together with its own Statement of Intent in response, which are in force from July 2026. ‘The Statement of Intent outlines how ASIC will achieve its objectives, carry out its responsibilities and exercise its powers. It should be read alongside the Statement of Expectations.’

In its Statement of Expectations, the Government set its expectation that ASIC will support the Government’s goal to build a more productive and resilient economy by ‘promoting a stable, secure and efficient superannuation system for members through monitoring and enforcing high standards of superannuation member services and retirement outcomes’.

More broadly, ASIC’s regulatory approach for 2026 is to adopt a proportionate and risk-based approach, and to support efficiency, growth and innovation in the parts of the Australian economy that it regulates.

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ATO – Super product register goes live

On 15 July 2026, the ATO’s Super product register went live. The register is a ‘randomised list of commercially available software products, which enable employers to process super contributions in line with SuperStream standards and Payday Super from 1 July 2026’.

‘The register is voluntary and only includes products where details have been provided to the ATO, so it does not list all commercially available products.’

The register currently contains 89 entities comprising payroll providers, clearing houses and messaging service providers.

Click here for details.

ATO – SuperStream release authority lodgment guidance released

On 14 July 2026, the ATO published guidance on how to avoid errors and processing delays when managing SuperStream release authorities. The guidance contains a range of practical tips which include:

• trustees should lodge a ‘Release authority statement (RAS) within 10 business days of receiving a release authority from the ATO via SuperStream’ and should ensure the lodgment is accepted within this timeframe to avoid penalties;
• trustees should ensure they only release the amount requested in the release authority to avoid overpaying or making duplicate payments;
• trustees should contact their software provider to fix any system issues, including where they cannot lodge an RAS or correct a rejected RAS message, and provide the ATO an estimated timeframe for the fix;
• trustees should ensure they have adequate assurance processes in place to accurately process release authorities; and
• if a trustee has issues processing their release authorities, these should be escalated to the ATO promptly via the Super Enquiry Service.

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Treasury – Government’s response to Senate report on Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 published

On 13 July 2026, Treasury published its formal response to the Senate Committee’s 2024 report on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024, which was tabled on 25 June 2026.

The response contains a revised supplementary explanatory memorandum which, among other matters, amends the Bill to require climate-reporting entities to use both a high and a low global warming scenario, where the sustainability standards require the disclosure of a scenario analysis or information derived from or about a scenario analysis in their climate-related disclosures required under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). These amendments are effected by introducing two new subsections to section 296D of the Corporations Act.

The amendments were introduced in response to ‘stakeholder feedback seeking additional clarity about the expectations for scenario analysis and to ensure entities consider both transition and physical climate-related risks in assessments of climate resilience’.

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