Industry super funds beat out retail funds in member satisfaction and extended its lead in the satisfaction of financial performance by 2.5 per cent, according to Roy Morgan's superannuation satisfaction report for the first half of 2012.
Satisfaction with the financial performance of industry funds was 50.6 per cent, compared to 43.6 per cent for retail funds.
But self-managed super funds were the real winners among members, with a 67.3 per cent satisfaction rating.
Industry funds comprised the top ten super funds for member satisfaction, with ESSSuper leading the pack on 75.2 per cent, followed by Catholic Super on 62.4 per cent.
BT topped the list of retail funds with 47.6 per cent satisfaction – still below the industry average of 48.4 per cent.
However, overall satisfaction levels have declined, according to Roy Morgan, and fell by 1.9 per cent to 48.4 per cent in the six months to July 2012.
The decline was driven by a decrease in retail fund satisfaction (-3.1 per cent) and industry fund satisfaction (-1.6 per cent), with self-managed super funds increasing by 0.8 per cent in the past six months.
Roy Morgan's industry communications director Norman Morris said there was a strong link between member satisfaction and switching funds.
"The ease of switching super funds and the increase in people using self-managed super funds means that the retail sector will increasingly rely on their adviser network and advice to retain customers, but at the same time be acting in the best interests of their client," he said.
