Australia's corporate watchdog has issued a blunt ultimatum to the nation's $4.5 trillion pension fund industry: modernise infrastructure now or risk a systemic collapse similar to the recent failures seen at the ASX.
Speaking at the Conexus Forum on Feb. 4, ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant warned that the "superannuation" sector is on a trajectory to hit $6 trillion by 2030.
At this scale, the industry will eclipse the domestic banking system in size, making its operational resilience a matter of national economic security.
Constant stressed that many funds are currently ill-equipped to handle the looming "retirement wall," as an estimated 2.5 million Australians prepare to transition from accumulation to drawing down their savings over the next decade.
The Commissioner pointed to the ASX as a "cautionary tale" of underinvestment.
The exchange operator was recently hit with a $150 million capital charge following years of technical glitches and a high-profile failure to upgrade its aging software.
Constant noted that the ASX’s downfall was a result of looking "backward, not forward," failing to align its technological aspirations with its critical role in the financial ecosystem.