AustralianSuper apologises for multiple accounts failure
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More news: Australia's largest superannuation fund has expressed regret and apologised to members after financial regulator ASIC took it to court over failures to address multiple member accounts. It had self-reported the issue to ASIC.
What they said: "AustralianSuper regrets that its processes to identify and combine multiple accounts did not cover all instances of multiple member accounts. This should not have happened, and we apologise unreservedly to members," the fund said in a statement.
"Having identified this issue, we have strengthened our processes to identify and combine multiple accounts and remain committed to minimising these for members."
ASIC sues AustralianSuper for failure over multiple accounts
The news: Financial regulator ASIC is taking trustees of AustralianSuper to court over alleged failures to address multiple member accounts.
The numbers: ASIC says about 90,000 members of Australia’s largest superannuation fund were affected over a 10-year period between 1 July 2013 and 31 March 2023, with total cost to members of approximately $69 million.
The context: ASIC alleges AustralianSuper failed to have adequate policies and procedures to identify members holding multiple accounts and merge these where it was in the member’s best interests. As a result, it continued to charge multiple sets of fees and insurance premiums to these members. It also alleged AustralianSuper was aware in 2018 of the number of multiple member accounts and possible gaps in its policies and procedures but failed to investigate and resolve the issue until late 2021 and early 2022. The regulator says unintended multiple accounts remain a significant issue for Australian consumers, with an estimated 3 million people holding multiple super accounts as at 30 June 2022.
The source: ASIC statement
