AustralianSuper emerges as Australia’s largest asset owner

AustralianSuper has usurped the Future Fund as the biggest Australian asset owner, jumping from 43rd to 36th place globally.

In total, five Australian funds featured in The Asset Owner 100 that gathered data on the total assets of the top 100 asset owners globally by the Thinking Ahead Institute.

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Last year’s report saw Future Fund as the largest asset owner with US$185 billion, but this had decreased to US$165 billion that caused it to drop from 37th place to 42nd place.

In contrast, AustralianSuper had risen from US$169 billion last year to US$176 billion that led to it taking the top spot for Australian funds. 

The report namechecked AustralianSuper, led by chief executive Paul Schroder, as one of the funds that had seen the largest gains in ranking, rising 17 spots.

The five Australian funds were: 

TCorp, which was 100 last year, dropped off the list this year, replaced by Australian Retirement Trust that was formed last year from the merger of QSuper and Sunsuper.

Australian assets represented 2.9 per cent of the share of top 100 discretionary assets, dwarfed by 27.3 per cent held in the United States that had 43 funds on the list. 

The top spot in the list was also a pension fund: the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) of Japan with US$1.4 trillion in assets under management. 

In total, the 100 largest asset owners were now responsible for US$23.4 trillion, of which Asia Pacific accounted for 33.7 per cent. Both of these figures are down from 2022 when total AUM comprised US$25.7 trillion and Asia Pacific held the largest proportion at 36.1 per cent. 

Jessica Gao, director at the Thinking Ahead Institute, said: “Asset owners from sovereign wealth funds to pension funds have navigated a year when volatility and uncertainty in the global economy have been at their highest in a generation – with often divergent outcomes.
 
“The disruption caused by elevated inflation and increased interest rates has affected equity and bond markets on a global scale, putting extra pressure on asset owners to reassess and adjust their strategies. The shift from an era of low inflation and interest rates has given a rise to a new macro-economic landscape that demands a fresh understanding and management approach. This is impacting different types of asset owner in different and unexpected ways.”