Super Alert – 27 February 2026: Payday Super regulations, APRA quarterly super stats, Treasury principles for retirement income solutions

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week, regulations to support the implementation of Payday Super were registered. Treasury released its proposed principles for retirement income solutions and retirement product reporting now that public consultation has been completed. The Federal Court also considered a greenwashing case, which, despite not being specific to superannuation, contains an overview of misleading and deceptive conduct concepts.

APRA – Quarterly superannuation statistics

On 26 February 2026, APRA released the latest superannuation statistics for the quarter ending 31 December 2025. Total superannuation assets increased to almost $4.5 trillion, which is an 8.1% increase compared to the same period last year. There was a large 19.2% increase in member contributions over the year.

Click here for details.

ASIC – Latest summary of enforcement outcomes released

On 25 February 2026, ASIC released an updated summary of its enforcement outcomes for the period July to December 2025. As at 2 January 2026, there were ten litigation matters in progress relating to ‘superannuation misconduct’ (one in the criminal jurisdiction and nine civil cases).

In an associated media release, ASIC advised that it has seen an increase in misconduct reports made to it, particularly relating to corporate governance concerns. Between 1 July and 31 December 2025, ASIC received 9,686 reports of misconduct, with ‘[c]orporate governance matters [accounting] for 40% of these issues, [and] with financial services and retail investor issues totalling 44%’.

Click here and here for details.

Legislation – Payday Super regulations registered

On 23 February 2026, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Regulations 2026 were registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. According to the Explanatory Statement, the regulations primarily ‘amend the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Regulations 2018 (SGA Regulations) and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (SIS Regulations) to support amendments made by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025’.

An associated media release was published by the Hon Dr Daniel Mulino MP, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services which explains that the regulations:

• ‘provide the details that support elements of the legislation and how it operates. This includes confirming kinds of payments that do not attract super, and the consequences of an employer voluntarily disclosing any missed payments’; and
• ‘provide the reduced 3‑day timeframe for superannuation funds to approve or reject contributions. This will ensure contributions are allocated to a member correctly in a shorter timeframe, including resolving any errors, benefiting employees through contributions landing in accounts earlier’.

Click here and here for details.

Treasury – Principles for retirement income solutions and retirement product reporting released

On 23 February 2026, Treasury published:

• its best practice principles for superannuation retirement income solutions; and
• a factsheet relating to its Retirement Reporting Framework consultation.

In relation to the first item, the principles are voluntary guidelines intended to assist superannuation trustees to ‘design and deliver effective retirement income solutions for their members’. The guidance sets out 19 best practice principles, each of which are designed to support trustees to:

• ‘Understand their members and their retirement income needs’;
• ‘Build products and settings that support effective retirement income solutions’;
• ‘Combine products and settings to create solutions for different groups of members’;
• ‘Engage members so they can make informed decisions in retirement’; and
• ‘Review and improve their retirement income solutions over time.’

In relation to the second item, and as referred to in our Super Alert of 8 August 2025, Treasury consulted with the industry late last year in relation to the creation of various indicators for trustees to report against in relation to their retirement products, services and offerings. A factsheet has now been released explaining the proposed indicators and metrics which APRA will begin collecting from 2027. Treasury has explained that the framework ‘is a transparency reform. This new reporting framework will not introduce new consequences or penalties for superannuation trustees’.

Click here, here and here for details.

ATO – Guidance released for engaging WPN holders

On 20 February 2026, the ATO released guidance to assist trustees in dealing with holders of withholding payer numbers (WPNs). The guidance follows amendments to the ATO’s systems which, from 1 July 2026, mean that WPN holders can no longer use the ATO’s Small Business Super Clearing House to meet their super obligations.

Funds are able to accept SuperStream contributions from persons holding a WPN in place of an ABN.

The guidance sets out the ATO’s expectations that funds will work with entities or employers to:

• ‘explain how to correctly provide their WPN for contribution processing’;
• determine the most appropriate contribution channel’; and
• ‘confirm that clearing houses or other service providers can support WPN based contributions’.

Click here for details.

Federal Court – Greenwashing and misleading and deceptive conduct allegations dismissed

On 17 February 2026, the Federal Court handed down its decision in Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility v Santos Limited [2026] FCA 96 in which it dismissed various allegations of greenwashing and misleading or deceptive conduct pursuant to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

The judgment is a useful reminder for trustee to ensure that sufficient records are maintained should they need to provide evidence to demonstrate they have reasonable grounds to support making any environmental claims such that the representations will not be deemed to be misleading under the law.

The action, originally brought by a shareholder, was dismissed on the basis that public statements the company had made with respect to its net zero emission roadmap would not have misled a reasonable member of the company’s target audience. The Court determined that the representations made did not convey the absence of emissions but rather were making comparative claims.

The Court also determined that there was a degree of flexibility in the elements of marketing net zero arrangements and the method by which any targets would be achieved.  The Court agreed with legal arguments made by the defendant that any focus on a single aspect of a net zero roadmap would result in the ‘application of an artificial rigidity to what would be regarded by a member of the target audience as an adaptable roadmap designed to achieve the [relevant targets]’.

Click here for details.

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