Note: Each year, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority releases performance data on the largest 200 super funds in Australia. The latest report was released on 9 January 2013, providing detailed performance data for the 2011/2012 financial year. This article provides some of the highlights of the report. The next report will be released in early 2014.
The 20 largest super funds in Australia control more than half (55%) of all super money held by the 350 or so larger super funds, and control nearly 40% (37.6%) of all super money held in Australia. Noting that SMSFs control more than 30% (31.5%) of super fund assets, the 20 large super funds in the list below have incredible influence politically, and within financial circles.
Take a closer look and you will see nearly all of the major financial organisations represented in the largest 20 super funds list and most of the major industry super funds. The table below lists the largest super funds in terms of total assets but also reports the annual rate of return for the financial year ended 30 June 2012.
The table below also reports the 5-year average rate of return (ROR) and the 9-year average ROR, and where each of the largest 20 funds ranked (see the 6th and 8th columns) in terms of performance for the 5-year and 9-year timeframes.
Note: SuperGuide has extracted and collated this data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority annual report on superannuation fund-level rate of returns. The report was released on 9 January 2013, and the next report (covering returns for the 2012/2013 year) will be released by
Two key observations from the data in the table below include:
- The largest 20 super funds in the country did not make it into the best-20 performing super funds (in terms of fund rate of returns) over a 5-year period, although REST came close with a ranking of 21.
- When looking at 9-year average rate of returns, 5 of the largest super funds ranked in the top 20 in terms of fund performance (rate of returns), although none of these 5 super funds were retail super funds run by Australia’s largest financial organisations. The largest super funds that also ranked in the top 20 for fund-level rate of returns were 4 industry super funds (UniSuper, AustralianSuper, Cbus Super, HESTA) and one public sector fund (PSS Scheme)
In future SuperGuide articles we will be examining in more detail the
Largest 20 super funds by fund assets as at June 2012 (data issued on 9 January 2013)
| Super fund | Fund type | Total assets ($m) | One year ROR | 5-year ROR/ranking | 9-year ROR/ranking | ||
| to June 2012 | to June 2012 | x/192 funds | to June 2012 | x/159 funds | |||
| 1.AMP Superannuation Savings Trust | Retail | 51,894 | -0.3 | -2.0 | 146 | 3.9 | 122 |
| 2. AustralianSuper | Industry | 47,848 | 1.1 | -0.3 | 64 | 6.5 | 15 |
| 3. State Public Sector Superannuation Scheme* | Public Sector | 43,464 | 2.7 | n/a | n/a | ||
| 4. Colonial First State FirstChoice Superannuation Trust | Retail | 43,153 | -1.0 | -2.1 | 150 | 3.8 | 128 |
| 5. Retirement Wrap (BT) | Retail | 34,167 | -0.6 | -2.4 | 162 | 3.6 | 132 |
| 6. First State Superannuation Scheme | Public Sector | 33,968 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 40 | n/a | |
| 7. The Universal Super Scheme (MLC) | Retail | 33,893 | -0.5 | -2.1 | 150 | 4.4 | 107 |
| 8. Unisuper* | Industry | 32,627 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 30 | 7.1 | 4 |
| 9. OnePath Masterfund (ANZ) | Retail | 26,125 | -1.8 | -2.1 | 150 | 3.4 | 139 |
| 10. Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (REST) | Industry | 22,558 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 21 | 6.2 | 26 |
| 11. Sunsuper Superannuation Fund | Industry | 20,226 | -0.3 | -0.4 | 69 | 5.7 | 41 |
| 12. HESTA | Industry | 19,778 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 45 | 6.3 | 20 |
| 13. Construction & Building Unions Superannuation (CBUS) | Industry | 18,924 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 52 | 6.5 | 15 |
| 14. ASGARD Independence Plan Division Two | Retail | 15,762 | -2.0 | -2.1 | 150 | 4.0 | 119 |
| 15. Mercer Super Trust | Retail | 15,653 | 0.5 | -1.1 | 107 | 5.2 | 66 |
| 16. Wealth |
Retail | 14,003 | 0.4 | n/a | n/a | ||
| 17. MLC Superannuation Fund | Retail | 13,186 | -0.4 | -2.8 | 168 | 3.9 | 122 |
| 18. Public Sector Superannuation Scheme* | Public Sector | 13,022 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 52 | 6.3 | 20 |
| 19. IOOF Portfolio Service Superannuation Fund | Retail | 12,942 | -1.3 | -3.5 | 180 | 3.2 | 146 |
| 20. Telstra Superannuation Scheme | Corp | 12,464 | -0.3 | -0.5 | 73 | 5.7 | 41 |
| Total ($526 billion) | 525,657 | ||||||
*Super funds with an asterix are not open to the general public
Source: Superannuation Fund-level Rate of Returns June 2012 (issued 9 January 2013)
The following SuperGuide articles may also assist you in understanding the table above:
- Ten handy uses for the APRA200 performance list
- Exposing the performance history of Australia’s largest 200 super funds
So on the 8 yrs ROR
Retails funds average 4.72% and Industry and other average 6.9% a 2.17% difference and the fees for Aust super 0.59% Unisuper 0.50% and First state 0.19% balanced for example.
Anz one path balanced 2.7%.
For $100,000 invested pay $2700 or $190 or $500/$590 every year!
Why so many have their super funds invested with the big retail funds ? apathy I guess.