Welcome to our second annual TOP 300 issue, which provides a snapshot in time of Australia’s larger super funds. Its focus is on size and this year it covers assets of $201 billion or roughly 87 per cent of the ‘wholesale’ superannuation market.
While not everyone will agree with our classifications and some super funds haven’t provided our researchers with their latest details, the TOP 300 serves as a unique comparison of the different segments of the not-for-profit superannuation market.
Not surprisingly, it reveals that public sector funds remain the giants of super in terms of assets, that industry funds have the most members and that corporate funds continue to vanish into the for-profit master trust haze.
There’s every reason to believe that the obituaries of ever larger corporate funds will continue to appear on these pages over the next year, but what’s likely to change somewhat is that more are likely to remain in the not-for-profit arena and bolster the industry fund figures in next year’s TOP 300.
This is because industry funds are getting better at marketing themselves and more are gearing up to take on the master trusts in the fight for corporate fund business. And, some are finding support from union representatives on corporate fund trustees boards.
It is interesting, for example, that of the two names on the shortlist to take on the Ansett funds, one is an industry fund: Superannuation Trust of Australia.
But it certainly isn’t plain sailing for the industry funds. One of the interesting findings of a study commissioned by the Investment and Financial Services Association, is that for the first time, fees being charged by large corporate master trusts (with assets of $50 million or more) have fallen below the large industry funds (over $1 billion).
If industry funds want to compete, they will have to grow their average account balances and also bear the costs of improving their online facilities and investment choice. But just how far can they go? The highest number of options offered by industry funds in the TOP 300 is nine, and some experts believe that adding much more will just confuse members and weaken their ability to make decisions. For the answers to this and other questions, don’t miss next year’s TOP 300.
