Super Alert – 8 May 2026: ASIC letter on AI risks, ATO speech re Payday Super reforms, update to disclosure requirements for reporting portfolio holding information

Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week ASIC issued a letter on AI risks, the ATO published a speech which set out key changes for employers to be aware of under the impending Payday Super reforms, and an update to an instrument prescribing the form of portfolio holding reports was registered.

ASIC – Letter on AI risks to cyber security

On 8 May 2026, ASIC has warned regulated entities ‘to urgently strengthen their cyber resilience measures, as frontier artificial intelligence (AI) intensifies the global cyber risk environment’.

The open letter to the industry states that ‘ASIC’s message is straightforward: do not wait for perfect clarity to address the threat posed by new AI models. Instead, act now, and act with discipline, to strengthen the cyber resilience fundamentals that underpin your business.’

Click here to view the full media release, and here for the letter.

Legislation – Update to disclosure requirements for reporting portfolio holding information

On 1 May 2026 the ASIC Corporations (Portfolio Holding Disclosure) Instrument 2026/338 was registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. The instrument ‘modifies the form of disclosure a trustee of a registrable superannuation entity must use to report portfolio holding information under Schedule 8D to the [Corporations Regulations 2001]’.

‘The modified form of disclosure requires trustees to disclose the total value and weighting of internally managed fixed income private debt.’

The instrument will commence on 1 April 2027, applying to those reporting periods between 30 June 2027 and 31 December 2031, and will continue until 1 April 2032.

Click here for details.

ATO – Payday Super speech published

On 28 April 2026, the ATO published a speech from Deputy Commissioner Emma Rosenzweig on the impending implementation of the Payday Super reforms. The Payday Super reforms, which come into force on 1 July 2026, are designed to reduce the more than $6 billion of super contributions that are unpaid each year.

The Deputy Commissioner highlighted the need for employers to be aware that:

• ‘Contributions must be received by their employees’ superannuation fund within 7 business days after payday. This includes contractors if they’re deemed to be employees for SG purposes’;
• ‘The 7-day clock doesn’t stop if the contribution is rejected by a fund. Therefore, [employers should] be working now on remediating any errors [they] are currently getting with your super contributions’; and
• ‘[Employers need] good quality information when [they] are onboarding new employees… as the additional grace period for SG payments for new employees is only 20 days after their first pay’.

The Deputy Commissioner also reiterated that the ATO’s ‘main compliance focus will continue to be on those who do not pay at all or deliberately underpay their employees’.

Click here for details.

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