Super Alert – 21 August 2026: Government announces proposed super compensation scheme, APRA publishes 2026-27 Corporate Plan, ATO updates and reminders for trustees

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week, the Government announced a proposed superannuation compensation scheme, Treasury registered amendments to accounting standards relevant to superannuation entities and announced a package of reforms in response to Shield and First Guardian collapses, and the ATO released a number of operational updates and reminders for trustees. Meanwhile, APRA published its 2026-27 Corporate Plan and a speech on the role of trustees in assisting members to navigate retirement.

APRA – APRA publishes 2026-27 Corporate Plan

On 20 August 2026, APRA published its 2026-27 Corporate Plan which sets out the regulator’s strategic priorities ‘for the coming four years as well as its policy and supervision agenda for the next 12 to 18 months’.

The plan was developed around three key strategic priorities:

• ‘Maintaining financial system safety and stability – so that the system can absorb shocks and continue to provide critical services to households and businesses’;
• ‘Getting the balance right – so APRA delivers its primary financial safety and stability objectives without undue cost for industry’; and
• ‘Improving APRA’s organisational effectiveness – so APRA’s people can continue to act quickly and decisively in an increasingly uncertain world’.

APRA identified a number of policy and supervisory priorities relevant to superannuation trustees for the 2026-27 period, including:

• ‘ensuring regulated entities are strengthening their resilience to AI-enabled cyber threats, and stepping up APRA’s focus on quantum computing risks’;
• ‘assessing how entities identify, assess and manage risks associated with industry’s concentrated reliance on common technology platforms and material service providers’;
• ’reinforcing minimum expectations for managing geopolitical risk and subjecting entities to more intensive supervision to ensure gaps are addressed in a timely manner’;
• ‘commencing work on a new system-risk stress test to further strengthen APRA’s understanding of risks from linkages between sectors and the overall impact for financial stability’;
• ‘requiring selected large superannuation trustees to appoint an independent party to undertake a deep dive review of their valuation governance practices’;
• ‘consulting on a package of superannuation reforms including the development of a risk sensitive capital framework to support the Government’s proposed new member compensation scheme’; and
• ‘finalising new requirements that will strengthen governance practices of banks, insurers and superannuation funds, which are expected to come into effect at the start of 2028’.

Click here for details.

APRA – Speech on supporting members through retirement

On 19 August 2026, APRA published a speech given by Executive Director Jane Magill which addressed the role of superannuation funds in assisting members to navigate retirement.

The Executive Director reiterated the obligations that trustees have to members under the Retirement Income Covenant ‘to play a critical role in developing the strategies and tools to educate and support members in mapping out their path ahead’.

The speech also highlighted:

• the capital treatment of longevity products has been changed effective from 1 July 2026;
• APRA intends to ‘increase transparency of the actions being taken by trustees to support their members through APRA’s implementation of the Government’s Retirement Reporting Framework’; and
• the need for different considerations to be taken account of through investment governance in the retirement phase.

Click here for details.

Treasury – announcement of superannuation reforms in response to Shield and First Guardian collapses

On 19 August 2026, Minister for Financial Services Dr Daniel Mulino used a National Press Club address to announce a package of reforms aimed at strengthening consumer protection, improving access to financial advice and reforming compensation arrangements following the collapse of Shield and First Guardian.

According to Dr Mulino, the Government’s response will focus on strengthening protections across the superannuation, advice and investment sectors, improving access to affordable financial advice, and placing the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) on a more sustainable footing.

Measures particularly relevant to the superannuation sector include:

• a ban on certain unlicensed real-time communications about superannuation and further restrictions on anti-hawking exemptions;
• stronger penalties for breaches of anti-hawking laws;
• a new framework enabling ASIC to direct superannuation trustees to commence a remediation process where an investment option fails and there is reasonable suspicion that trustee obligations have been breached;
• a requirement for trustees to compensate members for capital losses resulting from trustee breaches;
• powers for APRA to impose capital requirements on trustees offering higher-risk investment options;
• an obligation for trustees to establish and comply with caps on advice fee deductions from member accounts;
• progression of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms, including targeted superannuation prompts, intrafund charging reforms and streamlined statements of advice;
• the introduction of a new class of financial adviser, initially limited to APRA-regulated superannuation funds and life insurers; and
• targeted reforms to the best interests duty to facilitate the provision of scaled advice.

The package also includes reforms to the CSLR, including changes to the funding of the special levy and a proposal to limit compensation to actual investment losses for applications made to AFCA after 30 June 2027.

Click here for details.

Treasury – Government announces proposed superannuation compensation scheme

On 19 August 2026, the Treasury announced the Protecting Consumers in the Superannuation System measure, a superannuation compensation scheme which is intended to provide superannuation members with a clearer pathway to compensation where significant losses arise due to trustee misconduct or failures to meet trustee obligations.

The intended protections for members of APRA-regulated superannuation funds include:

• ‘Legislating an obligation on trustees to set and ensure compliance with caps on advice fee deductions from member accounts’;
• ‘Amending the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act to increase maximum civil penalties to 50,000 (up from 2,400 units) penalty units for core breaches of trustee obligations’;
• ‘Supporting APRA’s ongoing platform governance work by providing APRA with the power to set risk-based capital requirements for superannuation trustees offering higher-risk investment options to their members’; and
• ‘Providing ASIC with the power to direct superannuation trustees to commence a remediation process when an investment option fails and there is reason to suspect a failure of trustee obligations’.

Click here and here for details.

ATO – Trustees encouraged to subscribe to ATO Superannuation Dashboard

On 18 August 2026, the ATO invited trustees to subscribe to its Superannuation Dashboard, which ‘provides system status information, near-real-time response rates for SuperTICK and SuperMatch and displays availability and performance of [the ATO’s] superannuation services’.

The dashboard provides ‘announcements and planned system maintenance information for super services for large funds, including:

• SuperTICK;
• SuperMatch;
• Member Account Attribute Service (MAAS);
• Member Account Transaction Service (MATS);
• EmployerTICK;
• Fund Validation Service (FVS);
• SMSFMemberTICK; and
• SMSF Verification Service (SVS)’.

The dashboard will also provide ‘regular updates on unplanned outages including severity and expected duration of the outage’.

Click here for details.

Treasury – Amendments to AASB 128 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures registered

On 17 August 2026, Treasury registered Accounting Standard AASB 2026-3 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Fair Value Option for Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures (Standard) which amends AASB 128 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures.

The standard clarifies ‘which entities  are eligible to measure investments in associates and joint ventures using the fair value option, that is, to measure those investments at fair value through profit or loss in accordance with AASB 9 Financial Instruments instead of applying the equity method under AASB 128 in accounting for the investments’.

The Standard applies to superannuation entities applying AASB 1056 Superannuation Entities for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2028. Earlier application is permitted in certain circumstances.

Click here for details.

ATO – Section 20C notices to be issued for January to June 2026 period

On 17 August 2026, the ATO announced that it will be issuing Section 20C notices for the period 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026, with a due date of 31 October 2026.

The ATO’s media release provides that:

• ‘If there’s an exceptional reason that will delay the reporting of any lodgment or payment components, [trustees] must ensure a deferral request is lodged with [the ATO] for consideration via the Super Enquiry Service. This must be done prior to lodging any other unclaimed super money statements for that period.’; and
• ‘If [trustees] think one of [their] members has been incorrectly identified as a former temporary resident, you must lodge a revocation request with all relevant information for [the ATO] to consider. [The ATO] will review the matter and revoke the notice, if appropriate.’

Trustees requiring additional time to meet reporting obligations must submit any deferral request through the Super Enquiry Service before lodging any other unclaimed super money statements for the relevant period. Deferral and revocation requests can be made using the Super Enquiry Service.

Click here for details.

ATO – Early engagement encouraged for SFTs and IFTs

On 17 August 2026, the ATO published guidance encouraging trustees planning a Successor Fund Transfer (SFT) or Intra Fund Transfer (IFT) to engage early with the ATO by completing the SFT and IFT Transfer Form and lodging it with the Super Enquiry Service.

The ATO warned about the downstream impacts of incorrect SFT/IFT reporting for the tax and superannuation positions of individuals and the ATO’s ability to ‘effectively administer superannuation products, caps and taxes’.

The ATO also directed trustees to the SFT and IFT protocol for information and guidance on reporting SFTs and IFTs.

Click here for details.

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