Super Alert – 30 January 2026: ASIC relief for trustees, FC decision re penalties for conflicted remuneration, ATO practical guidance

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. As always, we look forward to bringing you updates on relevant superannuation industry news each week throughout the year. Please let us know if you have any new colleagues who would like to subscribe to these updates.

Over the break, ASIC released its outlook for the upcoming year, and proposed the extension of certain relief for superannuation trustees. The ATO published practical guidance on navigating the ATO’s systems. APRA revoked a series of reporting standards. Finally, the Federal Court handed down a decision concerning penalties for conflicted remuneration which highlights the liability of financial services licensees for the actions of their authorised representatives.

ATO – Payday Super webinar

On 29 January 2026, the ATO invited superannuation funds to register for an upcoming webinar relating to Payday Super. The webinar will be held on 16 February at 2pm and will outline ‘what super funds need to do to be ready for 1 July 2026’.

Click here for details.

ASIC – Proposed extension of application form relief for intra-fund transfers

On 28 January 2026, ASIC proposed an extension to the relief currently provided in the ASIC Corporations (Superannuation: Accrued Default Amount and Intra-Fund Transfers) Instrument 2016/64, which was set to expire on 1 April 2026 until 1 April 2031.

The instrument ‘exempts trustees of regulated superannuation funds from the application form requirements in section 1016A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act) for intra-fund transfers if conditions are met’. The proposed extension follows ASIC’s assessment that the relief ‘is operating effectively and continues to form a necessary and useful part of the legislative framework’. If extended, ASIC proposes to ‘remove redundant relief for movements of accrued default amounts to MySuper products and make minor and technical amendments to simplify the relief’.

There is no formal consultation paper issued for this consultation, however submissions close on 18 February 2026.

Click here for details.

ASIC – Key issues outlook for 2026 released

On 27 January 2026, ASIC published its key issues outlook for 2026. The outlook is provided in the context of ‘diverging’ global regulatory settings, an evolving market structure, AI-led transformation and the continued cost-of-living constraints for Australians.

With that background, ASIC’s key issues for 2026 include:

• ‘Increased retail client exposure to private credit markets’ (including through superannuation investment platforms);
• ‘Operational failures by superannuation fund trustees leading to member harm’;
• High risk products, high pressure sales tactics and inappropriate financial advice leading to consumer losses;
• Technological harm (specifically including AI);
• Cyber-attacks and data breaches stemming from ‘inadequate operational resilience and crisis management’;
• ‘Regulatory gaps related to emerging financial sector participants (digital assets, payments, users of AI)’; and
• ‘Poor quality financial reporting, sustainability reporting and audit quality’.

Click here for details.

Legislation – APRA revokes data collection reporting standards

On 14 January 2026, the following legislative instruments were registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. These instruments revoke each of the APRA reporting standards mentioned in the brackets:

• Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 1 of 2026 (SRS 531.0 Investment Flows);
• Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 2 of 2026 (SRS 532.0 Investment Exposure Concentrations);
• Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 3 of 2026 (SRS 535.0 Securities Lending);
• Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 4 of 2026 (SRS 600.0 Profile and Structure (RSE Licensee));
• Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 5 of 2026 (SRS 601.0 Profile and Structure (RSE));
• Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 6 of 2026 (SRS 721.0 ABS Securities Subject to Repurchase and Resale and Stock Lending and Borrowing); and
• Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 7 of 2026 (SRS 722.0 ABS Derivatives Schedule).

The revocation of these instruments follows a letter from APRA to all RSE licensees on 22 December 2025 confirming the impending revocation as part of APRA’s commitment to streamlining data collections under its 2025-26 Corporate Plan.

Click here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here for details.

ASIC – Updates proposed to financial reporting and audit relief guidance

On 12 January 2026, ASIC announced that it is seeking industry feedback in relation to updates proposed to Regulatory Guide 43 Financial reports and audit relief. ASIC has explained that the updates are intended to ensure the ‘currency and clarity of guidance on ASIC’s approach to granting relief from the financial record keeping, financial reporting and audit requirements’.

If accepted, the proposed changes would:

• reflect ‘legislative reform since the guidance was last updated’;
• incorporate ‘relevant ASIC guidance including guidance from Regulatory Guide 29 Financial reporting by Australian entities in dual listed company arrangements’; and
• simplify the existing guidance.

The consultation period closes on 9 February 2026.

Click here for details.

ATO – Practical guidance for superannuation trustees navigating ATO systems

On 6 January 2026, the ATO published two articles applicable to superannuation trustees.

The first article provides guidance on how to lodge and manage super reporting, administrative or systems-related enquiries using the ‘Super Enquiry Service’. The service is available 24/7 and will require users to be authenticated and hold Relationship Authorisation Manager credentials to act on behalf of funds.

The second article provides guidance to assist trustees to understand various response and error messages which occur when using the SuperStream system. The ATO notes that ‘[incomplete] or inaccurate reporting results in members [sic] payments being suspended and impacts the information displayed on ATO Online’. The guidance reiterates that ‘[f]unds must have processes in place to ensure they meet their reporting obligations’.

Click here and here for details.

Federal Court –Penalties ordered for conflicted remuneration failures

On 18 December 2025, the Federal Court issued its decision in Australian Securities and Investments Commission v R M Capital Pty Ltd (No 2) [2025] FCA 1634, a proceeding concerning breaches of the conflicted remuneration regime under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) by an authorised representative and failures of the related holder of a financial services licence to take reasonable steps to ensure its authorised representative did not accept conflicted remuneration.

The decision followed a related previous ASIC enforcement action against the financial services licensee and its authorised representative, as summarised in our Super Alert of 1 March 2024. The earlier proceeding found that the authorised representative had accepted conflicted remuneration in breach of section 963G, and the financial services licensee had failed to take reasonable steps to ensure compliance with section 963F. The Court was therefore only required to determine the appropriate civil penalties and relief as part of this recent proceeding.

The Court ordered that the financial services licensee pay a $575,000 pecuniary penalty and required that within six months of the judgment it have in place appropriate systems, policies and procedures to ensure compliance with section 963G, and that a written report from an independent expert be provided to ASIC confirming whether this has been done. In assessing the penalty, the Court characterised the financial services licensee’s conduct as grossly negligent, noting its inadequate compliance systems and lack of effective oversight of authorised representatives. The authorised representative was ordered to pay a pecuniary penalty of $350,000 and to undertake the same compliance review as the financial services licensee.

The decision highlights financial services licensees’ responsibility for preventing conflicted remuneration and reflects that it is insufficient to rely on passive or paper-based compliance frameworks.

Click here for details.

Treasury – Government consults on changes to superannuation tax concessions

On 19 December 2025, Treasury released exposure drafts of the following Bills and associated explanatory materials:

• Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions) Bill 2025; and
• Superannuation (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions) Imposition Bill 2025.

The purpose of the Bills is to ‘boost the superannuation savings of low‑income workers and make superannuation tax concessions fairer and more sustainable’. They propose to amend current settings, by (amongst other things):

• increasing the eligibility threshold for the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset (LISTO) from $37,000 to $45,000, and increasing the maximum LISTO amount from $500 to $810;
• reducing ‘the tax concessions available to individuals whose total superannuation balance exceeds $3 million’;
• introducing ‘a second threshold of $10 million to make superannuation tax concessions even more targeted [with a headline rate of 40%], and indexes the large balance thresholds of $3 million and $10 million’; and
• ‘indexing the thresholds consistent with the approach for the transfer balance cap’.

If passed, it is proposed that the amendments will apply from 1 July 2026.

The consultation on these changes closed on 16 January 2026, with the Government response to submissions yet to be released.

Click here and here for details.

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