In this guide
Superannuation is now very much super-sized. In fact, Australia now boasts the fifth-largest pool of investable retirement savings in the world, behind the US, Canada, Japan and the UK.
Australians now have more than $4.5 trillion invested in super, significantly more than the $3.3 trillion combined value of all the stocks on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The two largest super funds
alone – AustralianSuper and Australian Retirement Trust – each have more than $330 billion in assets. Yes, you read that right. Billion.
Super’s recent growth spurt was due to strong investment returns as well as increases in compulsory employer contributions. The Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate increased from 11% to 11.5% in July 2024, then again to 12% from July 2025.
The funds themselves are also getting bigger, due to a combination of organic growth and mergers. In June 2025, there were 72 public offer funds regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), down from 84 the previous year. This number has been on the decline for years and is predicted to fall further as the industry continues to consolidate.
Background to mergers
The 2018 Productivity Commission inquiry into superannuation, and the banking Royal Commission that followed, put the spotlight on underperforming funds. As a result, APRA has published annual performance tests for MySuper and Choice super funds to put pressure on poor performers to merge or exit the industry.
Read about APRA’s latest performance tests.
Learn more about super fund mergers.
Another consequence of the Royal Commission was an outflow of members and their money from the retail superannuation sector to industry funds. This trend is still evident in the latest list of the 20 largest super funds, but the picture is becoming more nuanced.
A study of the latest APRA fund level statistics (for the year to June 2025) by The Conexus Institute found that while net inflows to industry funds are still strong, there is evidence of switching to retail platforms among advised members with a high account balance. For example, HUB 24 still lies outside the top 20 funds by assets, but it is one of the fastest growing in percentage terms. However, retail funds are also the biggest losers of members (see table below).
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