Super Review looks back on the major alternatives stories over 2025, which are shaping investor allocations, private markets activity and new frontiers in digital assets.
Alternative investments continued to gather momentum across the superannuation and broader investment landscape this year as funds reassessed the limits of traditional portfolio models, sharpened their private markets strategies and explored emerging exposures such as crypto-linked ETFs.
The shift reflects a search for diversification, inflation resilience and long-term return stability, with super funds increasingly embracing unlisted assets, active management and regulated digital investment vehicles.
Here are some of the stories that explored this shift:
Aussie investors shift from 60/40 to alternatives
Australian investors are increasingly moving away from the traditional 60/40 equity-bond portfolio as inflation volatility and global macro uncertainty continue to expose its limitations.
Investors are adopting more modern frameworks, including models that allocate up to 20 per cent to alternatives, in search of diversification and downside protection.
BlackRock Australia noted that alternatives, including hedge funds and liquid strategies, are becoming essential components of multi-asset portfolios rather than fringe exposures.
While interest in a 50/30/20 allocation structure is rising, implementation challenges remain, particularly around achieving broad diversification within private markets.
Australian funds outperform global peers in alternative asset returns
Research by Monash Centre for Financial Studies research found that major Australian super funds delivered stronger alternative asset returns than global peers over nearly two decades.
Across the study sample, funds generated estimated annualised alpha of between 0.57 and 1.53 per cent, averaging 1.11 per cent.
The analysis showed that alternatives, combined with active management, supported stable long-term outperformance through major stress periods including the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The findings challenged scepticism toward unlisted assets and highlighted the resilience of Australian funds’ diversified strategies.
AMP Super explores use of crypto ETF investments
AMP Super confirmed it will begin exploring the integration of crypto ETF investments within its asset mix.
The fund was the first in the sector to trade bitcoin futures as part of its dynamic asset allocation model and is now assessing how crypto-linked ETFs may fit within regulatory, compliance and operational frameworks.
Interest accelerated after the approval of crypto ETFs by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which AMP said provided institutional validation for the asset class.
While no crypto ETFs have been added to member options as of yet, the fund continues internal research on their potential role.
Super funds sharpen private markets play
Large super funds have stepped up their private markets activity as competition intensifies and opportunities in infrastructure, renewables, property and private credit expand, according to research from JP Morgan’s Future of Superannuation Report.
Aware Super lifted its private markets exposure above 25 per cent, targeting sectors such as battery storage and digital infrastructure.
HESTA maintained significant unlisted exposure for its diversification and inflation-hedging benefits, while Cbus has adjusted its mix toward infrastructure through a contrarian positioning strategy.
State Super, which already holds more than 20 per cent in private markets, expects allocations to continue rising.
Funds emphasised the importance of liquidity planning, with AustralianSuper seeking a balance between maintaining liquidity buffers and investing through market cycles. Vanguard Super, meanwhile, remained more focused on listed markets for transparency and simplicity.
