The corporate regulator is taking legal action against Australia’s biggest superannuation fund- accusing it of engaging in practices that could diminish retirement savings.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is alleging that AustralianSuper, the trustee of Australia’s largest super fund, had for a decade failed to identify members with multiple accounts.
Those with several accounts up end paying account-keeping fees multiple times, which ultimately diminishes retirement savings over the decades.
ASIC alleges 90,000 AustralianSuper members were affected between July 1, 2013 and March 31, 2023, collectively costing them $69million.
AustralianSuper is accused of becoming aware of the issue in 2018 but failing to act until late 2021 and early 2022, an even then doing a poor job.
The corporate regulator is taking legal action against Australia’s biggest superannuation fund- accusing it of engaging in practices that could diminish retirement savings
This would contravene Section 108A of the Superannuation Industry Act requiring super funds to identify and merge multiple accounts.
The retirement savings giant is accused of malpractice from 2019 and 2023 after becoming aware of the issue.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said a failure to merge multiple accounts into one would hurt clients at retirement age.
‘Failing to merge duplicate accounts within a fund can have significant financial consequences for members who end up paying multiple sets of fees, eroding their superannuation balance over time,’ she said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk