Super Alert – 28 August 2026: APRA and ASIC publish outcomes of their recent AI risk roundtables, ASIC Corporate Plan

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week, APRA and ASIC published the outcomes of their recently held AI risk roundtables. APRA released the results of its annual superannuation product performance test. ASIC published its 2026-27 Corporate Plan. Meanwhile, the ATO published guidance on contribution timeframes and reported a more than $2 billion increase in lost and ATO-held super since 2025.

APRA – Annual superannuation product performance test results released

On 28 August 2026, APRA released the results of its 2026 superannuation performance test. The annual test, which has been conducted since 2021, ‘assesses the long-term performance of superannuation products to improve member outcomes and enhance transparency’ it also identifies underperforming products and is intended to ‘drive accountability within the sector’.

APRA tested 547 superannuation products, representing 61% of all APRA-regulated superannuation member benefits. Of these products, 12 failed the test:

• One of the 50 MySuper products tested failed the performance test, representing the first time a MySuper product has failed since 2023;
• 11 of the 141 platform trustee-directed products failed the performance test, including five products that have failed for at least two consecutive years; and
• Of the 12 products which failed the test, six trustees were responsible for those failed products (with five consecutive failed products offered by two trustees).

According to APRA failure was ‘largely driven by poorer investment performance rather than higher administration fees and costs, which are also taken into account as part of the test assessment’.

Click here and here for details.

APRA and ASIC – Regulators publish warning to financial entities regarding AI risk

On 27 August 2026, APRA and ASIC published a joint warning to financial market entities urging them to take ‘decisive action’ with respect to AI. The regulators’ warning follows the hosting of nine roundtables through June and July 2026 which were attended by over 600 attendees from across the financial system, including a number of superannuation trustees.

The key themes emerging from the roundtables included:

• ‘the importance of getting the cyber fundamentals right, including identifying and managing critical assets and systems, timely patching, strong identity and access controls, attack surface reduction, backup integrity, tested response and recovery arrangements, and third-party risk management’;
• ‘the need to consider key decisions such as risk appetite, escalation authority, recovery priorities and communication strategies at board level before a crisis hits’;
• there is ‘a growing interest in defensive AI, including for threat intelligence, vulnerability detection, code review and incident response’;
• there is a ‘common dependency and concentration risk associated with third-party service providers’; and
• ‘the importance of actively contributing to industry-led collaboration’ and sector-wide threat intelligence sharing’.

APRA and ASIC set out further insights from the roundtables, together with a preparedness checklist for boards and executives which can be accessed here.

Click here and here for details.

ASIC – Corporate Plan for 2026-27

On 26 August 2026, ASIC published its 2026-27 Corporate Plan outlining the regulator’s priorities for the year ahead, ‘with a focus on protecting consumers and small businesses, supporting responsible innovation, reducing unnecessary regulatory burden and strengthening confidence in Australia’s financial system.’

For superannuation trustees, ASIC’s intends to ‘support better retirement outcomes and superannuation member services’ through the following focus areas:

• delivery of fair and informed member services by trustees;
• trustee performance under the retirement income covenant;
• innovation in advice;
• misconduct targeting superannuation savings; and
• managed investment schemes oversight.

ASIC also signalled an intention to:

• improve the quality of financial reports and audits through targeted reviews of the financial reports of a range of entities, including registrable superannuation entities; and
• conduct a targeted review of superannuation trustees’ oversight of advice fee deductions.

Click here and here for details.

ATO – Guidance on calculating contribution timeframes published

On 25 August 2026, the ATO published a reminder that under the Payday Super reforms funds must allocate or return super contributions within three business days, not including the day that the contribution is received.

Once contributions have been accepted and allocated to an intended employee’s account then fund trustees must report that contribution to the ATO using the Member Account Transaction Service.

Click here for details

 ATO – Lost and ATO-held super exceeds $21 billion dollars

On 19 August 2026, the ATO reported that there is currently $21.2 billion in lost and ATO-held superannuation, representing an increase of $2.3 billion since 2025.

The ATO has encouraged Australians to access the ATO’s lost and unclaimed super website and expects superannuation trustees may see an increase in queries from current and past members.

Click here for details.

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