Chant West boss challenge political super claims

One of Australia’s key superannuation research and ratings houses, Chant West, has sought to defend the value of the superannuation guarantee regime against recent commentary and criticism from some Government back-benchers and others, arguing that the system ultimately delivers far more than it cost.

In an analysis released this week, Chant West’s general manager, Ian Fryer has dissected a number of the comments made by commentators and politicians and sought to put them into the context.

“Our super system is a failure, it makes people worse off.” 

The long-term performance of the median super fund has far outstripped typical return objectives – a return of 8% p.a. since the introduction of compulsory super in 1992. Fryer argued this was an outstanding outcome and much greater than the typical return objective of CPI plus 3.5% p.a. (i.e. 5.8% p.a. since 1992).

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“Even when you look at the past 20 years, which includes three major share market downturns, the median growth fund has returned 6.3% p.a. which is still ahead of the typical real return objective. And these returns have been delivered through a concessionally taxed system that adds even greater value for members,” he said.

“Owning a home is the best, fastest path to financial security in retirement.” 

Not surprisingly, the Retirement Incomes Review recognised that owning a home should be done in conjunction with super savings. However, Fryer warns that focussing solely on housing for retirement adequacy will lead to many more asset-rich but income-poor retirees.

“I think the super industry has a role to play in helping members better understand how home ownership and super can work together to achieve financial security in retirement,” he said. 

“Costs incurred by Australian super funds are some of the highest in the OECD.” 

The latest OECD data (2018) shows Australia’s administration costs at 0.4% of assets is on par with other leading retirement income systems such as Canada, Denmark and Finland. But Fryer asserts that any comparison of fees across systems must be treated with great caution. Further, the Australian super system is consistently ranked in the top five systems in the world in the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index. During 2020, it was ranked fourth. 

“There’s been a 13.6% increase in the average MySuper fee on a $50,000 balance since 2014.” 

Fryer believes this claim is a bit disingenuous as it ignores the introduction of a new fee disclosure regime in 2017 that required the disclosure of a wider range of costs than required previously. “When we account for the change in disclosure requirements, administration fees are the same as 2014 and investment fees have actually fallen by 12% to 15% since 2014”, he said.  

“$30 billion was paid last year in super fees, more than the $27 billion on electricity bills, $12 billion on water bills” 

“Can super fees be reduced? Yes. Are they reducing? Yes, they are and recent APRA [Australian Prudential Regulation Authority] initiatives to reduce the number of funds and increase transparency should keep pushing fees down,” Fryer argued. “However, it’s always dangerous to simply look at the cost of any service without considering the benefits it generates.

“What benefits do super funds generate? For the year to September 2020, APRA-regulated funds, which represent about two-thirds of fund assets, accepted $120 billion in contributions, paid out $110 billion to members and typically generate over $100 billion in investment income each year (after investment fees and costs have been deducted).”

“The benefits generated by the super industry are far greater than the costs incurred,” Fryer said.

Acknowledging that there are some issues in the sector that need to be addressed, he remained concerned that this dialogue can destroy both confidence in the super system and engagement of everyday Australians with their retirement savings.

“This can only be bad for members and the long-term prospects of the whole retirement income system. We absolutely need to address issues to make the system work better but not in a way that seems to keep communicating that ‘super is bad’,” he said.