Industry funds represent the fastest growing sector of the superannuation industry with the level of assets rising by 8.5 per cent, according to the latest data released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
The APRA Superannuation Trends data for the June quarter reveals that while retail funds still hold the largest share of total superannuation assets with 33.7 per cent valued at $210.8 billion in assets, the fastest growing areas are industry funds and small funds where assets grew by 6 per cent.
According to the APRA data, total superannuation assets in Australia increased by 4.6 per cent during the June quarter to stand at $625.2 billion.
The APRA data tends to confirm the anecdotal evidence with respect to the rapid growth of do-it-yourself and self-managed superannuation arrangements, with small funds now boasting the second largest share of total superannuation assets at 21.5 per cent or $134.6 billion.
What is more, the data shows that directly invested superannuation assets had the highest growth during the quarter, increasing by 5.6 per cent, compared to assets placed with an investment manager which increased by 5.2 per cent and assets invested through statutory funds and life offices which increased by 2.4 per cent.
When it comes to asset allocations, there appeared some to be some underlying conservatism during the June quarter, with assets in cash and deposits showing the largest increase, growing by 7.1 per cent, albeit that assets invested in equities and unitised trusts still represent the largest share of total superannuation assets.
