AIST commits to super improvement

As Australians celebrate the 30th anniversary of compulsory and universal superannuation, the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees has reaffirmed its commitment to improvement.

AIST chief executive, Eva Scheerlinck, said the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) Your Super comparison tool indicated outperformance had continued while Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data showed not-for-profit funds were continuing to grow assets and membership.

Total assets of industry, public sector and corporate funds, which were classified by APRA as not-for-profit funds, had almost doubled since 2015 and accounted for 71% of APRA-regulated superannuation fund assets of $2.335 trillion at 31 March 20224.

Collectively, these not-for-profits were the largest category of super funds ($1,646 billion), ahead of self-managed superannuation funds ($892 billion) and for-profit retail funds ($688 billion).

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Not-for-profit funds represented 67% of all APRA-regulated super fund accounts in Australia at 30 June 2021, up from 45% in June 2015.

Although total accounts fell by 15.2% over six years as Australians consolidated duplicate accounts, the number of not-for-profit accounts increased by 3.4% .

There had also been “marked and persistent” outperformance by not-for-profit funds relative to retail funds which the Productivity Commission attributed to better investment decisions and asset selection.

“This data demonstrates the benefits of the not-for-profit model, which puts the interests of members first and returns any profits to the millions of Australians who entrust these funds with their retirement savings.

“As the Productivity Commission has noted, fees are the biggest drain on net returns to members and they are consistently lower in the not-for-profit sector than the retail sector,” Scheerlinck said.

“As their peak body, AIST knows these funds are not resting on their laurels and are committed to delivering the best outcomes for the many millions of Australians that are their members, continually improving their systems and products to sustain their outperformance.

“For our part, we will continue to advocate for improvements to our world-class superannuation system to ensure it provides benefits to all Australians, regardless of their gender, culture, education or socio-economic background.”