Australian super funds have delivered mixed results in the latest global rankings, with industry funds climbing, while government schemes fell sharply.
Industry funds have continued to attract strong member inflows and expand through consolidation, while government schemes have lost ground due to ageing memberships and more conservative strategies.
AustralianSuper has maintained its position as the nation’s largest super fund, ranking 17th globally with US$212.4 billion under management as of June 2024.
Meanwhile, Australian Retirement Trust (ART) held 22nd place at US$186.6 billion, while the Future Fund slipped to 27th with US$147.2 billion.
Aware Super has ranked 43rd; UniSuper, 57th; and Hostplus, 76th.
The research, conducted by the Thinking Ahead Institute in collaboration with Pensions & Investments, highlighted a sharp divide between industry and government super funds.
According to Ellie Boston-Clark, co-head of governance, investments Australia at WTW, industry funds have generally posted modest growth and only small falls in the global rankings, while government funds have contracted and dropped significantly more places.
“From the perspective of Australian funds in the rankings, there was a distinct difference between the 10 industry super funds in the study, which on average grew by 2.4 per cent and only fell on average eight ranking spots, and the five government super funds, on average shrank by 3.0 per cent and fell on average 26 ranking spots,” she said.
According to Boston-Clark, this observed divergence reflects “structural and strategic differences”.
“Industry super funds have benefited from strong member inflows, consolidation and more aggressive investment strategies, particularly in private markets and infrastructure,” she said.
“In contrast, government super funds typically exhibit maturing membership bases, lower contribution flows and more conservative asset allocations.”
Moreover, the report showed Australia accounted for 15 funds in the global top 300. Alongside the largest players, these funds included Cbus, Rest, HESTA, CSC, GESB, State Super, Super SA, ESSSuper, Equip Super, and Brighter Super.
Technology has also emerged as a defining theme, with many of the world’s top 20 funds having prioritised AI in portfolio management, recognising it as both an efficiency driver and a governance challenge.
On this theme, AustralianSuper commented that this tech boom, particularly in AI, is a “megatrend impacting economies and investment strategies globally”.
“This era is reminiscent of past periods when significant technological advancements led to substantial growth and investment opportunities,” the fund is quoted in the report as saying.
International figures
Globally, the world’s largest 300 pension funds now manage a record US$24.4 trillion. This surpasses the previous high set in 2021, though growth has slowed to 7.8 per cent in 2024 compared with 10 per cent the year before.
Jessica Gao, director at the Thinking Ahead Institute, said the past year “saw pension assets reach their highest levels yet, coming off several years of slowed growth following the previous record achieved in 2021”.
She added that macro-economic volatility, geopolitical shifts, and concentrated market risks are reshaping return expectations for pension investors.
Norway’s Government Pension Fund has overtaken Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund after more than two decades at the top, now holding US$1.77 trillion and standing 6.9 per cent larger than the Japanese fund.
Concentration at the top has continued, with the largest 20 funds now controlling US$10.3 trillion, equal to 42.4 per cent of the global total.
At the regional level, North America has increased its share of global pension assets to 47.2 per cent, while Asia Pacific’s has edged down to 25.5 per cent, and Europe’s has slipped to 23.7 per cent.
