The Government’s early access to superannuation scheme has reached payments of $13.5 billion since the program started in late April to the end of May, according to data.
The scheme, to help members in financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had paid 1.81 million members, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data found.
APRA said the average payment was $7,473 and that it took an average 3.3 business days to pay an application with 95% of applications paid within five business days from the data the super fund received the application from the tax office.
“Over the week to 31 May, superannuation funds made payments to 177,000 members, bringing the total number of payments to 1.8 million since inception,” APRA said.
“The total value of payments during the week was $1.3 billion, with $13.5 billion paid since inception.”
The fund that had made the most amount in payments was AustralianSuper at $1.8 billion, followed by Sunsuper at $1.38 billion, Hostplus at $1.29 billion, REST at $1.23 billion, and CBUS at $764 million.
The super fund announced that Gregory has been appointed to its executive leadership team, taking on the fresh role of chief advice officer.
The deputy governor has warned that, as super funds’ overseas assets grow and liquidity risks rise, they will need to expand their FX hedge books to manage currency exposure effectively.
Super funds have built on early financial year momentum, as growth funds deliver strong results driven by equities and resilient bonds.
The super fund has announced that Mark Rider will step down from his position of chief investment officer (CIO) after deciding to “semi-retire” from full-time work.