Superannuation is money regularly put into a fund that will be paid to the employee as a pension when they retire.

Contributor

Paul Bingham

Barrister

Regulation of superannuation funds

Last updated

1 July 2022

Almost all private sector superannuation funds are regulated by the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (‘SIS Act’). These are called regulated funds.

Funds operated by Commonwealth, state and local government bodies, and by public sector bodies established by statute, are often not regulated. Funds with less than five members (exempt funds) are exempt from many of the regulatory requirements.

The SIS Act (and many statutes controlling public sector bodies) controls the way in which trustees exercise their power. For example, it ensures that each regulated fund trustee must covenant to perform the trustee’s duties and exercise the trustee’s powers in the best interests of the beneficiaries.

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