If you’re going to be appointed to the trustee board of a superannuation fund choose a bank-owned retail fund or a large industry fund – you’ll get paid more.
That is the bottom line of answers provided by both retail and industry superannuation funds to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics.
The answers reveal that while the trustee directors employed on the National Australia Bank’s NULIS board received a total of $1,151,682 in directors fees equating to an average of $221,477, this compared to the trustees of the Australian Catholic Superannuation Fund who received an average salary of $57,370 a year.
This in turn compares to the $125,000 paid to trustee directors of the AMP superannuation funds, and the average remuneration of $118,103 paid to trustee directors of major retail industry superannuation fund, REST.
A number of large retail and industry funds have yet to respond to the questions on notice from the Parliamentary Committee.
The fund has achieved double-digit returns amid market volatility, reinforcing the value of long-term investment strategies for its members.
Australian super funds notched a third consecutive year of strong returns, with the median balanced option delivering an estimated 10.1 per cent over the 2024-25 financial year, but an economist has warned that the rally may be harder to sustain as key risks gather pace.
AustralianSuper has reported a 9.52 per cent return for its Balanced super option for the 2024–25 financial year, as markets delivered another year of strong performance despite the complex investing environment.
The profit-to-member super fund’s MySuper default option has returned 9.85 per cent for the financial year 2024–25.