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”.
The research house has offered a silver lining after super fund returns saw the end of a five-month streak last month.
A survey of almost 6,000 fund members has identified weakening retirement confidence, particularly among those under 55 years of age, signalling an opportunity for super funds to better engage with members on their retirement journey.
The funds have confirmed the signing of a successor fund transfer deed, moving closer to creating a new $29 billion entity.
A number of measures, including super on Paid Parental Leave, funding to recover unpaid super, and frameworks to encourage investment in the energy transition, have been welcomed by the superannuation industry.
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