The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s review of how superannuation funds communicate with members on retirement issues has raised multiple issues requiring further attention and action. But funds say the report card, which essentially says the industry can ‘do better’, is a useful assessment of progress to date and specific improvements they can make.

ASIC Report 818, From superficial to super engaged: Better practices for trustee retirement communications, has uncovered “a lack of urgency in improving retirement communications” to members.

It says that while some trustees have “taken meaningful steps to update their retirement communications, others are yet to follow through on stated intentions”, and trustees are still not adequately considering the needs of First Nations, vulnerable, and culturally and linguistically diverse members.

And it says it is clear that “trustees with robust governance, strong data and research capabilities and effective benchmarking are delivering better retirement communications”.

The report’s findings are based on a range of questions asked of trustees about how they develop, implement and monitor their communications to members, including the metrics they use to gauge engagement, such as open rates on emails, click-through rates and time spent on content.

ASIC also asked funds how member feedback was collected, used and how any resultant initiatives are monitored and for effectiveness, as well as how trustees evaluate the effectiveness of their communications and if they engage service providers to help.

ASIC’s calls to action on superannuation fund member retirement communications

1. Retirement communications • Routinely review retirement communications to ensure they focus on informing members about retirement, instead of prioritising product promotion and member retention. • Develop retirement communications that are better tailored to member needs, using meaningful member cohorts and nudges. • Routinely evaluate retirement communications, including the formats they utilise, using success metrics and feedback loops.

2. Supporting First Nations, vulnerable, and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) members • Address specific challenges faced by First Nations members when developing and delivering retirement communications. • Improve processes for identifying and supporting vulnerable and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) members. • Implement measures that ensure retirement communications are accessible to culturally and linguistically diverse members and members with a disability or impairment.

3. Governance arrangements and implementation • Improve governance arrangements for their retirement income strategy reviews to better support the development and delivery of retirement communications. • Ensure governance structures are adequately resourced to execute their retirement income strategy and support their retirement communications, with appropriate oversight by executive and management-level staff. • Strengthen oversight of external service providers to ensure retirement communications meet quality, compliance and strategic expectations. • Expand data and research capabilities to enable more informed decision making and improve retirement communications.

Source: ASIC Report 818: From superficial to super engaged: Better practices for trustee retirement communications, October 2025

Guidance on improvements

But despite another regulatory report card that essentially says the industry “could do better”, a number of the funds that participated in the ASIC analysis funds have welcomed the regulator’s scrutiny and the guidance it provides on where communications can be improved.

Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation chief customer officer Adam Nettheim tells Retirement Magazine that “regulatory activity that prompts funds to do better at engaging with customers and improving the retirement experience can only be positive”.

Legalsuper chief executive Luke Symons says “industry-wide performance analysis resulting in benchmark-setting and related guidance will be beneficial for all Australian superannuants”.

Brighter Super head of retirement Jennifer McSpadden says the ASIC report is “a valuable overview of a cross-section of the industry that canvasses some innovative practices in the retirement space and highlights areas that continue to require improvement”.

Dani Murrie, chief marketing and growth officer for UniSuper, says the report is “a valuable guide for the industry” and “an opportunity to lift standards across the industry”.

And a spokesperson for HESTA says the report will “help inform our ongoing efforts to strengthen how we communicate with members about retirement”.

Nettheim says super funds have a responsibility to set members up to enjoy retirement “with financial confidence and freedom of choice”.

“To achieve that, funds must consider each customer’s age, retirement stage, and cultural background in the way we communicate,” he says.

“We know retirement is a deeply personal experience for our customers, and our customer communications must be useful and simple, with an aim of reducing our customers’ cognitive load where possible.”

Nettheim says communication must start “decades before someone reaches retirement age”, and CSC’s targeted retirement communications “begin in earnest for customers from age 45”.

“There’s always room to improve and we’re currently working on enhancements to our retirement communication that will see us contacting customers every year with resources tailored to their exact age and stage of the retirement journey,” he says.

Data gathering

Legalsuper’s Symons says that “building understanding and knowledge of our members is an ongoing and important endeavour and we continue to develop our data gathering capabilities and member engagement solutions”.

“A key strategic advantage of being a smaller fund focused on a single industry is our ability to understand the needs of our members in greater detail compared to larger funds trying to be all things to broader membership cohorts,” he says.

Symons says the ASIC report has “rightly called out the importance of trustees to tailor messages effectively to member needs”.

“We agree this is a key element of developing and delivering retirement communications and we believe having a fund focused on particular industries to understand their specific needs is a key element in this area,” he says.

Symons notes that the ability of all super funds to significantly enhance the value and content of tailored member communication would be considerably advanced if Australia’s superannuation sector was added to the Open Banking regime.

“The breadth and relevance of the data available would be significantly increased and members would be the beneficiaries of this,” he says.

UniSuper’s Murrie says the report “reinforces the importance of moving beyond generic messaging to more personalised, timely, and relevant retirement communications which is aligned to our value proposition”.

“For us, effective member communication is about just that – personalisation, clarity, and relevance to enable our members to make confident decisions to live their best retirement,” she says.

“While the review includes a number of recommendations, it is important to note that much of this work is underway or has already been implemented by the fund.”

Brighter’s McSpadden says one of “the valuable observations in the report” is that progress remains uneven across the industry.

“Member communications must be engaging and directly relevant to members’ lives, aspirations and plans,” she says.

“Superannuation can easily be seen by young member cohorts as something that can put off when, in fact, acting to make extra contributions and minimise fees can have a dramatic effect on their final retirement outcomes.

“Conversely older members that are either approaching or in retirement require information and reassurance in terms that are easily understandable at a time when they may be juggling numerous life priorities.”

Members in decumulation

McSpadden says Brighter “acknowledges the report’s findings that more communications need to be directed at members in decumulation and that communications should be routinely evaluated based on success metrics and feedback loops”, along with “the need for continued vigilance from regulators regarding the industry’s implementation of the Retirement Income Covenant”.

“We will continue to deepen our efforts and offerings to members approaching and in retirement. This includes developing a lifetime income option in the medium term and continuing to improve our advice and education options to ensure members are properly informed about their options leading up to retirement and in retirement,” she says.

The HESTA spokesperson says the fund will continue to “enhance how we engage with members on retirement, such as through the launch of an online retirement education course pilot, enhanced digital tools, more targeted communications to member cohorts and insights-driven improvements to our website content”.

“HESTA remains committed to seeking ongoing member feedback and continually refining our retirement communications to meet the diverse needs of our one million-strong membership,” the spokesperson says.

In a statement accompanying the release of the report, ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant said there are currently about 15 million members in retirement, and another 2.5 million will join them in the coming 10 years or so.

Retirement-phase assets currently stand at about $575 billion and this figure has been forecast to reach $3 billion in the next decade, even as the growing number of retired members draw down on their accumulated savings.