The Hostplus Indexed Balanced option was the top performing option in the SR50 Balanced (60-76) Index of the last financial year, according to SuperRatings.
It returned 12.2 per cent for the year ending June 2024.
This was closely followed by Raiz Super’s Moderately Aggressive option and Colonial First State’s Enhanced Index Balanced option, returning 12.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively.
SuperRatings noted balanced funds are those with a strategic allocation of between 60 per cent to 76 per cent of their portfolio invested in growth assets.
According to its analysis, the rest of the top 10 performing options were:
Funds with a higher exposure to shares and listed assets generally outperformed for the year, in a repeat of 2023, the research house observed.
Meanwhile, “those with greater exposure to unlisted property reported more subdued outcomes,” it explained.
“As a result, members who were invested in index funds generally outperformed more actively managed options, given the strong focus on, and allocation towards, listed shares.”
Broadly, SuperRatings observed an “impressive” year of returns, fuelled by Australian banking and international technology shares. This was despite a staggered start to the year.
“Concerns over inflation caused a slow start to the year, with multiple negative monthly returns recorded until October 2023,” it explained.
“Increased confidence in the outlook for inflation and ongoing developments in artificial intelligence led a market rally from November to March and while higher than expected inflation data led to a stumble in April, returns recovered quickly to finish the year strong.”
Australia’s corporate regulator has been told it must quickly modernise its oversight of private markets, after being caught off guard by the complexity, size, and opacity of the asset class now dominating institutional portfolios.
ASIC chair Joe Longo has delivered a blunt warning to superannuation trustees, cautioning that board-level ignorance of member complaints and internal failings will not be tolerated and could trigger enforcement action.
ART has cautioned regulators against imposing overlapping obligations on superannuation funds already operating under APRA’s comprehensive framework, saying that additional oversight should be “carefully targeted to address potential gaps in other parts of the market”.
The super fund has appointed Simone Van Veen as chief member officer.