The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has sued Mercer Super, one of Australia's largest superannuation funds with 950,000 members and $70bn (£51.5bn) in assets under management, over alleged failures to tell ASIC about investigations into serious member services issues.
These included investigations into incorrect insurance premium refunds for dead members, member accounts not being created with default insurance, and updates to member information not being processed by the trustee, the regulator alleged.
ASIC alleged that between October 2021 and September 2024, Mercer Super had "inadequate systems in place to comply with the reportable situations regime", which requires Australian financial services licensees to promptly report ongoing investigations into significant breaches of their core obligations.
It also alleged that Mercer Super provided false or misleading information in reports to ASIC, including understating the number of members who were impacted.
"We allege a pattern of longstanding and systemic failure by Mercer Super to comply with the law," said Sarah Court, deputy chair at ASIC.
"These aren’t just technical breaches. Allowing investigations into significant issues to drag on for months or, in some cases, over a year without reporting them to ASIC demonstrates a lack of care for customers and can put more at risk.
"As one of Australia’s largest super funds, Mercer Super should have had adequate systems in place to manage and monitor critical issues like this."
ASIC is seeking declarations and penalties from the court. The legal action is the latest in a string of claims made against superannuation providers for various failures. ASIC said that one of its 2025 enforcement priorities is member services failures in the superannuation sector.
Mercer Super has been contacted for comment.
