Returns down, but SG maintains flows

30 September 2008

| By By Mike Taylor |

Australia’s superannuation fund assets are continuing to increase despite the market downturn and general volatility.

According to the latest data released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), total assets increased over the June quarter by $7.4 billion or 0.6 per cent to a total of $1.17 trillion.

However, the data revealed that the level of assets was directly reflecting the asset allocations of the major funds, with industry fund assets actually increasing by 0.9 per cent to $199.3 billion while retail fund assets fell by 0.7 per cent to $341.5 billion, with corporate fund assets falling by 4.1 per cent to $61.5 billion.

Public sector fund assets remained steady during the quarter.

Retail funds continued to dominate inflows, receiving 44.1 per cent of total contributions during the June quarter compared to 28.5 per cent for industry funds, 23.2 per cent for public sector funds and 4.1 per cent for corporate funds.

According to the APRA data, the return on assets was in negative territory for all types of funds, with the return for industry funds being 0.9 per cent compared to minus 1.1 per cent for public sector funds, minus 1.4 per cent for corporate funds and minus 2 per cent for retail funds.

AUTHOR

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