Super Alert – 8 August 2025: 3 consultations, proposed remake of MIS instrument, new Bill re payments regulatory framework

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week Treasury commenced three consultations relating to superannuation retirement income solutions, retirement reporting and funding of the CSLR. A variety of other announcements were made this week relating to ASIC remaking an instrument applicable to managed investment schemes and Parliament reintroducing a Bill related to modernising Australia’s payments framework.

Treasury – Consultation in relation to best practice for retirement income solutions

On 7 August 2025, Treasury released a consultation paper seeking industry views ‘on the best practice principles for superannuation retirement income solutions’. In particular, it is seeking views about best practice in the following three areas:

• ‘understanding the membership base
• increasing access to retirement products and features
• communicating with members effectively’.

Treasury will use these principles to provide guidance for trustees ‘on the design and delivery of high-quality retirement income solutions to their members’. Trustees will be able to ‘voluntarily adopt’ this guidance ‘in designing and delivering retirement income solutions as part of their retirement income strategy, under the Retirement Income Covenant’.

The consultation period closes on 18 September 2025.

Click here for details.

Treasury – Consultation in relation to reporting for retirement products

On 7 August 2025, Treasury released a consultation paper in relation to the creation of a new ‘Retirement Reporting Framework’ which will require trustees ‘to report on a series of indicators on their [retirement] products, services and offerings, as well as metrics on their members’ behaviour, to understand how trustees are driving improved retirement outcomes’. It is expected that this new framework will come into effect in 2028.

The consultation period closes on 5 September 2025. Once Treasury’s consultation period is finalised, APRA ‘will undertake consultation on how to give effect to the collection and publication of these indicators and metrics’.

Click here for details.

ASIC – Proposed remake of MIS instrument

On 5 August 2025, ASIC announced that it is proposing to remake a legislative instrument ‘related to pricing of interests in managed investment schemes (other than time-share schemes) registered before 1 October 2013’. According to ASIC, the instrument, ASIC Corporations (Managed Investment Product Consideration) Instrument 2015/847, ‘is operating effectively and efficiently and continues to form a necessary and useful part of the legislative framework’. Therefore only minor changes are proposed to be made.

The consultation period ends on 29 August 2025.

Click here for details.

ATO – Reminder in relation to trustee voluntary payments

On 5 August 2025, the ATO issued a reminder to trustees in relation to voluntary payments that can be made to the ATO ‘where the trustee reasonably believes paying the amount to [the ATO] would be in the best interest of the person’. The ATO notes that such payments ‘excludes amounts that another provision of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999…requires [superannuation trustees] to pay to [the ATO]’.

It recommends that trustees ‘[l]et the member know before you make a [trustee voluntary payment] and do what you reasonably can to give them notice. This allows them time to provide alternative instructions before any amounts are transferred to [the ATO]’.

Click here for details.

Treasury – Consultation commenced in relation to CSLR levies being exceeded

On 1 August 2025, Treasury issued a consultation paper seeking industry views in relation to the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort and the estimated shortfall between the maximum levies which can be collected by ASIC from the financial advice sector in relation to the scheme (the sub-sector cap), and the estimated ‘initial claims, fees and costs’ received from the operator of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort. According to Treasury, the estimated shortfall is approximately $50 million (ie, the expected claims are greater than the levy collected from the industry).

As referred to in our Super Alert of 7 February 2025, a post-implementation review of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort was undertaken by Treasury earlier this year. This is one of the issues which has come to light out of that review.

The consultation period closes on 29 August 2025.

Click here for details.

Parliament – Bill introduced to modernise payments regulatory framework

On 30 July 2025, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payments System Modernisation) Bill 2025 (Cth) was introduced to the House of Representatives. This Bill seeks to give effect to some measures which were contained in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2024 (Cth), but lapsed when the previous Parliament was prorogued and dissolved.

According to the Explanatory Memorandum for the new Bill, it proposes to amend the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 (Cth) (PSRA) ‘to modernise the payments regulatory framework, ensuring it is fit-for-purpose and can address emerging risks related to payments’, for example by expanding ‘the regulatory coverage of the PSRA by updating key definitions, introducing new ministerial powers to ensure the Government can respond to issues beyond the existing remit of the RBA, and modernising the existing penalty regime in the PSRA’.

Click here for details.

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