On 26 November 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) jointly released the 2025 Retirement Income Covenant (RIC) Pulse Check report (Report), which assesses the progress trustees have made in developing retirement income strategies for Australians approaching or in retirement.

The Report states that RSE licensees should focus on improving retirement outcomes for their members. In doing so, RSE licensees should reflect on the better practices outlined in the report and consider areas for lifting their approach to meet the needs of the Australian community.

Other important messages in the report include:

  • Understanding members:
    • Most RSE licensees have invested significant effort in understanding their members’ needs, by improving data capabilities and identifying and addressing data gaps called out previously; and
    • Most RSE licensees identified a need to further refine their retirement income strategy and cohorts, to better reflect their member base and support development of more fit-for purpose retirement income solutions.
  • Addressing member needs:
    • Most RSE licensees are focusing on improving and expanding services to support members approaching retirement, with some RSE licensees developing support services for specific member cohorts. However, there is still little focus on providing support services to members in later stages of retirement; and
    • RSE licensees continue to refine their current retirement income product offerings and are largely focused on enabling members to tailor retirement income solutions through access to advice, guidance, digital tools, and education.
  • Governance and oversight:
    • Governance and oversight have strengthened, but many RSE licensees are still grappling with how to gauge effectiveness of their retirement income strategies. There is less focus from RSE licensees on taking steps to regularly measure the retirement outcomes delivered to members, or impact on member experience and satisfaction.
  • Measuring impact:
    • Member engagement has increased but consistent behavioural change has not been observed, particularly around drawdown strategies

In the Report, APRA and ASIC also urged RSE licensees to accelerate their efforts to strengthen their retirement practices and approach. Key areas of greater focus should include:

  • better use of data to understand members;
  • investing in digital capabilities; and
  • expanding the provision of retirement information and access to advice.