The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has filed Federal Court proceedings against AustralianSuper Pty Ltd, alleging significant failures in the timely and lawful handling of death benefit claims, including extended delays in assessing claims and paying benefits to beneficiaries. ASIC alleges that between 1 July 2019 and 18 October 2024 AustralianSuper took between four months and four years to assess at least 6,897 death benefit claims after the claim form was returned, and failed on at least 752 occasions to pay benefits as soon as practicable after a member’s death. Examples cited include a payment delay of 1,140 days despite having all required information, with other payments taking 438, 412 and 366 days, and delays of 15 to 213 days to provide claim forms in 254 cases. The alleged contraventions include obligations under section 912A(1)(a) and section 912A(1)(c) of the Corporations Act and the requirement to pay benefits as soon as practicable under section 34(1) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act and regulation 6.21(1) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations; ASIC is seeking penalties, declarations, an adverse publicity order and compliance-related orders. ASIC flagged member services failures in superannuation as an enforcement priority and indicated it will release a death benefits report in coming weeks.
Australian Securities & Investments Commission 2025-03-12
Australian Securities & Investments Commission sues AustralianSuper over alleged multi-year delays in death benefit claims
ASIC has initiated Federal Court proceedings against AustralianSuper Pty Ltd for alleged delays in handling death benefit claims, with assessments taking four months to four years for at least 6,897 claims. ASIC cites 752 instances of delayed payments, with delays up to 1,140 days, breaching the Corporations Act and Superannuation Industry regulations. ASIC seeks penalties, declarations, an adverse publicity order, and compliance-related orders, emphasizing superannuation member services failures as a priority.