12 March 2025
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has commenced proceedings into AustralianSuper’s handling of death benefit claims.
We are considering ASIC's claim carefully and will respond on the substance of the claim in due course.
Paying out members’ retirement savings after they die is the final service we provide them. During COVID, a sharp increase in member deaths and a significant impact of the pandemic on staffing numbers saw a backlog relating to the processing of death claims emerge.
We recognised this and developed a strategy with our service provider to clear the backlog of claims. Despite some improvement, we were not satisfied the backlog was reducing fast enough so we made the significant decision to bring the processing of death claims in house. Bringing this function in house strengthens our ability to deliver this important service efficiently and empathetically.
AustralianSuper is fundamentally transforming how we deliver member services. We are part way through a $120 million investment in service improvements, including bringing operations in house that require high care and empathy.
Since our in-house Bereavement Centre was launched in April 2024 with 75 dedicated case managers handling death claims from start to finish, we have seen a significant reduction in claim processing times.
We welcome the regulator’s industry-wide attention on this matter.
For media enquiries, please contact
Sam Prenesti
M: +61 438 012 162
E: sprenesti@australiansuper.com
About AustralianSuper
AustralianSuper manages more than $410 billion in members’ retirement savings on behalf of more than 3.6 million members from more than 485,000 businesses (as at 31 December 2025).