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ARTICLE · 19 NOVEMBER 2024

APRA hones in on trustee spending behaviour

Piper Alderman
Piper Alderman
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Piper Alderman

Piper Alderman

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Looks at trustees' obligations to put the financial interests of fund members first when making fund expenditure decisions.

AustraliaCorporate/Commercial Law
Lisa-Marie McKechnie
Lisa-Marie McKechnie
Kathy Neilson
Kathy Neilson
Kerry Jacobs
Kerry Jacobs
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The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) recently put the superannuation industry on notice that it intends to intensively review and scrutinise fund expenditure as one of its supervision priorities. This article looks at trustees' obligations to put the financial interests of fund members first when making fund expenditure decisions and APRA's planned supervisory approach to ensure trustees undertake better practices in this area.

On 22 October 2024, APRA published a letter to all registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensees putting the superannuation industry on notice that APRA intends to intensify its scrutiny of fund level expenditure.1 APRA's supervisory attention follows observations of "questionable" expenditure decisions and trustees' variable compliance with the duty to act in the best financial interests of members.2 APRA intends to prioritise its supervisory attention on expenditure where member benefit is not apparent straight away

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