New research has shown that a large cohort of Australians are misinformed about both their super fund type and performance, prompting a major industry body to call for a Government-sanctioned online tool to help Australians make more informed choices about their superannuation savings.
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) said the research, which was conducted by Essential Media, showed the need for the Government and industry regulators to develop an easy-to-use online comparator tool.
“Many Australians are languishing in poorly-performing super funds with no easy way of knowing that their fund is a dud. In the 21st century, comparing super funds shouldn’t be that hard,” AIST chief executive, Eva Scheerlinck said, pointing out that even consumers invested in MySuper options often needed to search across multiple websites to compare funds.
It was even harder for members looking to invest in Choice options, as standardised reporting was yet to be enacted for the sector, despite it accounting for almost twice as much savings under management as its MySuper counterpart.
Money Management’s sister publication, Super Review, had this year focused on improving comparability between super fund options, regularly delivering data analysis of performance and risk through FE Analytics and integrating fund data into its site.
Essential Media’s research reinforced the need for such comparison, finding that many retail fund members were unsure of how their fund was performing and one in four mistakenly thought they were in an industry fund.
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.