Industry Super Australia (ISA) has named industry superannuation funds which it believes are underperforming but has noted that they are not members of ISA.
Giving evidence before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, ISA deputy chief executive, Matthew Linden, named Nationwide Super as well as Concept One and Combined Super Fund as being amongst industry funds which had underperformed.
He also made clear that membership of ISA was not open to all industry funds.
Citing Nationwide Super, Linden said that it was a fund which called itself an industry fund which had consistently underperformed.
“In fact, I'm pretty sure that particular fund doesn't necessarily have employer and union sponsors like many other industry funds, but it calls itself an industry fund,” Linden said. “There are a range of others which have since merged. One was Concept One, which I'm aware of. There is another one called Combined Super fund. Many of these, even since this data was published, have merged or wound up.”
Asked whether ISA approach non-member industry funds to become members, ISA chief executive, Bernie Dean, responded: “We don’t”.
A member of the super fund has approached ASIC to investigate potentially misleading or deceptive representations by UniSuper regarding the holdings of its sustainable portfolios.
The median growth fund delivered 1.9 per cent in March, adding to the “stunning” rally that has seen super funds gain 11 per cent since November.
Vanguard has affirmed its support for the current super performance test, emphasising the importance of keeping the process straightforward.
While some superannuation funds have gone down the route of internalisation, others say they favour ‘smart partnering’ with external managers for diversification appeal.
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