Super trustees urged to accelerate progress on retirement support for members

APRA and ASIC have today jointly released the 2025 Retirement Income Covenant (RIC) Pulse Check report, which assesses the progress trustees have made in developing retirement income strategies for Australians approaching or in retirement.

The report highlights that despite RIC obligations being introduced over three years ago on 1 July 2022, the gap is widening between trustees actively promoting better retirement outcomes for their members and those that are not.

While some trustees have shown leadership by investing significant effort to meet the needs of their members transitioning to and in retirement, with some innovating and driving best practice, far too many have been content with making only incremental improvements.

APRA and ASIC again call on industry to lift its focus on improving retirement outcomes for their members. All trustees should take steps to meet better practices as outlined in the report.

ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant said the over 1.5 million Australians already in retirement and the wave of 2.5 million entering retirement over the next decade, deserve better from their superannuation trustees.

‘Super trustees have had three years to develop meaningful retirement income strategies that meet the diverse needs of their members – and meet the law,’ she said.

'Retirees collectively entrust almost $600 billion in savings to the stewardship of super trustees, who should uphold their confidence by focusing on retirement strategies that meet their customer needs. This will become ever more important as the waves of retirement continue and with two in five trustees expected to have more than half their members in retirement by 2045.’

APRA Deputy Chair Margaret Cole noted ‘ASIC and APRA are committed to holding superannuation trustees to account for improving the experience of members approaching and in retirement, in line with the objective of the RIC’.

APRA and ASIC will also be providing individual feedback to trustees.

Background

On 1 July 2022, the retirement income covenant (covenant) under the Supervision Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act) commenced. These reforms were introduced to improve the retirement outcomes of individuals by placing specific obligations on trustees to consider the needs of beneficiaries (i.e. their members) in retirement.

The covenant requires trustees to develop a retirement income strategy for members who are retired or are approaching retirement. The strategy must address how their members will be assisted in achieving and balancing three objectives, maximising income, managing expected risks and flexible access to funds.

Since its introduction, ASIC and APRA have reviewed how trustees have responded to the covenant, and where available, shared examples of better practice and areas of focus, with the aim of uplifting industry practice.

ASIC recently published findings from a thematic review of retirement income communications and will continue to update ASIC’s Moneysmart content pages, tools and calculators, with actionable guidance for consumers on superannuation and retirement.

ASIC and APRA will continue to engage with Treasury in relation to Government’s retirement phase initiatives, including the proposed Best Practice Principles for Retirement Income Solutions and the Retirement Reporting Framework. In addition, APRA has committed to including retirement products in 2026 Comprehensive Product Performance Package.

The full report can be viewed on APRA's website at: Industry update: 2025 Pulse Check on retirement income covenant implementation.