Kathmandu. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has urged superannuation trustees to take immediate action to strengthen anti-fraud practices after its latest review found significant deficiencies in communication with members.
In a statement from the regulator, ASIC evaluated website content related to scam and fraud on 47 superannuation trustees and benchmarked against similar website content from 4 major banks (ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac). The review focused on the availability, quality and functionality of anti-scam and anti-fraud materials. This includes checking the clarity and relevance of the website’s content, the prominence and readability of the website.
The review found that banks scored positively on more than 80% of the parameters. However, most super funds have scored only 40 per cent to 60 per cent of the same criteria.
ASIC commissioner Simon Constant says the superannuation industry has been slow to respond to the growing scam and fraud risks for members, despite being the custodian of Australia’s $44.3 trillion in retirement savings. “The latest review of our SuperAnnuation website content confirmed that superfunds often lack clarity, access and support for victims of scams. “It’s time for super trustees to step in and reduce the risk of scams and fraud for members,” she said. It lost 2.2 million Australian dollars in scams related to super in 2025, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre. ’
Ms Simon said supertrustees had a clear and immediate responsibility to monitor risks and ensure that these emerging threats were identified and proactively managed. “However, the capabilities to prevent, detect and respond to scams and fraud are still not adequately addressing the risks to members,” she said. —Agency
