‘Lack of customer care': ASIC takes super fund to court for charging dead people
In proceedings launched on Friday in the Federal Court, ASIC claims Mercer Super, a $70bn fund with almost one million members, had 'serious issues in its business'.
The corporate watchdog alleges that between October 2021 and September 2024, Mercer Super had inadequate systems in place.
ASIC claims Mercer did not report up to seven internal investigations and reported others more than a year late.
The reviews investigated how funds had not being refunded correctly after a member had died, how members' accounts were not being created with default insurance and how updates to members' information were not being processed by the trustee.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court alleged Mercer had a pattern of longstanding and systemic failure to comply with the law.
'These aren't just technical breaches,' she said.
'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.'
Mercer is not alone, with ASIC saying it has sued Australian Super and Cbus over alleged failure in handling death benefits and insurance claims.
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