The country’s biggest superannuation fund, AustralianSuper, had highly convoluted systems that created critical bottlenecks and led to a blowout in the processing time for death benefit claims, the corporate regulator alleges.

In a statement of claim lodged with the Federal Court, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleged these issues festered for nearly four years and meant the industry fund giant, which manages some $365 billion in retirement savings, charged thousands of deceased customers monthly administration fees long after they had died.