SYDNEY, 27 MAY 2026
*check against delivery*
Welcome back!
Before we move into the first awards of the night, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our world class retirement savings system.
Nights like these are about recognising excellence and a reminder of what excellence now requires from our sector. At ASFA, when we think about the future of this system, we come back to three words.
Safe. Simple. Stable.
A super system that keeps money and data safe. That is simpler to operate and navigate. And is stable over the long term. That sounds neat, of course – three words always do!
The hard bit is making them real in a system managing $4.5 trillion in assets, for 19 million Australians with super, more than $220 billion in contributions flowing into the system every year and about $140 billion flowing into people’s pockets annually as well.
Simplicity matters because complexity costs money and makes it harder for members to make good decisions.
Stability matters because people save over decades, and policy settings need to reflect that – which is why It was positive to see the recent budget maintain existing CGT settings for super.
But tonight, I want to focus on Safety.
Last month ASFA conducted our annual poll of super members. This year it showed that keeping money safe from criminal activity is second only to investment returns as the top priority for members.
82% said they trust their fund to manage their money for retirement.
77% trusted their fund to always look out for their best financial interests.
And 78% trusted their fund to keep their personal data safe.
That trust is hard won but it can be tested very quickly. The cyber incident experienced by the sector last year while well contained, was a very clear warning shot. And none of us are under any illusion about how attractive this sector is to criminals.
I’m not ignoring the advice reforms required, let it go without saying tonight they play an enormous role in safety and trust. I’ll add to that though -the fight in front of us now is to keep members’ money and data safe. And like every gain we have made for the sector it will not be fought on one front alone. We need to be rock solid and as united as possible. While you strengthen your internal capabilities, we need to learn from each other, we need to engage in legislative areas that are unfamiliar, we need to engage as investors, we need to be as good at the protection as we are at the growth.
In a highly interconnected system, this cannot be done by funds or service providers acting alone.
That is why ASFA is driving the SC3 framework, the super sector’s collective cyber and financial crime defence capability.
The first stage is cyber. The next will be broader financial crime – scams and fraud.
Because cyber resilience and financial crime prevention are now two sides of the same problem.
Every year, close to $1 billion dollars is lost by Australians to investment scams alone. Losses that disproportionately affect superannuation members. A loss of retirement savings, regardless of the exit point of that money, is a loss for our sector’s reputation, which erodes trust in us all and makes members more susceptible to loss – and the cycle continues.
Social media is a key gateway for investment scams. Losses from this channel rose around 30% in the 2025 data and the loss reported increased by around 50%. This is driven by fake investment ads, impersonation of financial brands and advisors and AI generated endorsements, that are flourishing through social media despite our relatively strong regulatory landscape. It is completely unacceptable.
And it requires our collective attention, super can do a lot in our backyard but we are the exit point to a decision made somewhere else, with someone else. And as the great Archbishop Desmond Tutu said there comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river, we need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in.
That’s not an arms crossed refusal to do more than we possibly can, our very unique social license almost insists that we use the big shadow we can caste to go up that river.
And our fiduciary duty does too, as a society when we fail to prevent harm at the source, the cost does not disappear – someone else is left to carry it.
The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort is a clear example. Every well-established financial services market will have a form of compensation scheme; the need is not in question. But a scheme, that has only been operational for 2 years, now needing to rely on levies from super fund members when they generally can’t claim from it, a public policy failing.
Other countries show that this can be done better. ASFA has commissioned research to examine how compensation schemes operate around the world. Successful schemes globally rest on 3 pillars: clear and fair compensation, risk-based industry funding, and a genuine last-resort model where regulators pursue bad actors before costs are passed to others.
The CSLR is well intended, and well managed and despite being young its design is obviously flawed – if other countries can get this right, there is no excuse for Australia not to.
For members safe super is felt in practical moments: when a payment arrives on time, when fraud is prevented, when a claim is handled with care, or when retirement starts to feel real, when they can access the help and guidance they need. When they feel their money and information is being safely cared for in our hands.
Tonight’s awards are an opportunity to recognise the value of these moments and celebrate excellence in the categories of advice, member services, insurance, innovation, digital advice, investment, responsible investment and retirement solutions. Come with us to apply this excellence to our fight for safe super, it will take all our muscle. In our time in this system let one of our legacy achievements be the strengthening of it. Thank you – let’s get to these awards.
Congratulations to all the finalists. Thank you for the work you do every day for members, and good luck to everyone for the rest of the night!
