SUPERANNUATION – AUSTRALIA

Stock rally brings super fund returns back into the black

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Megan Neil
The Australian – Page: 15 : 12-Dec-23

Data from SuperRatings suggests that the median balanced superannuation fund gained 3.1 per cent in November. This follows negative returns in each of the previous three months, and the research house expects the median fund to achieve a return of about one per cent for the first five months of 2023-24. SuperRatings also estimates that the median fund will post a gain of about 6.8 per cent for the first 11 months of calendar 2023.

CORPORATES
SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD

Complaints over super funds soar

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 8-Nov-23

Data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority shows that there was a surge in complaints about some superannuation funds during 2022-23. The number of complaints about AustralianSuper rose by 127 per cent year-on-year to 1,750; this includes more than 1,000 complaints about the administration of customers’ accounts. AustralianSuper has acknowledged that its customer service has not met expectations, but says it is taking action to address the issue. The Australian Retirement Trust, Cbus and Hostplus are among the super funds that also attracted a large increase in complaints.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN RETIREMENT TRUST PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND, HOST-PLUS

Super complaints soar 32pc: watchdog

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Hannah Wootton, Lucy Dean
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 2-Nov-23

Data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority shows that the number of complaints it received about superannuation funds rose by 32 per cent in 2022-23. This includes a 136 per cent increase in complaints regarding delays in processing insurance and death benefit claims. Super Consumers Australia director Xavier O’Halloran notes that some super fund members have had to wait for more than a year to have these claims paid out, and he has called for regulatory action to force super funds to process claims more promptly.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, SUPER CONSUMERS AUSTRALIA

Super returns lower in August

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Chris Herde
The Australian – Page: 15 : 13-Sep-23

SuperRatings estimates that the median balanced superannuation fund posted a return of minus 0.1 per cent in August, after gaining 1.5 per cent in July. The research house also expects the median growth fund to have lost 0.3 per cent in August. Executive director Kirby Rappell says monthly returns are likely to continue to "bounce around" in the near-term, due to ongoing market uncertainty. He has emphasised the need for super fund members to focus on the long-term performance.

CORPORATES
SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD

Super fund satisfaction drops to 65% in July 2023 – down 7% points from record high 18 months ago in January 2022

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Aug-23

New data from Roy Morgan’s Superannuation Satisfaction Report shows an overall super fund satisfaction rating of 65% in July 2023. This compares with a record high of 72% in January 2022. However, satisfaction with super funds is still significantly higher than the long-term average of 58.1% from 2007-2023. Customer satisfaction for Industry Funds has fallen by 7.4% points since January 2022, to 66.8%, while satisfaction with retail funds is down 7.3% points to 59.6%. Customer satisfaction for Public Sector Funds has in turn declined by 7.9% points to 71.2%; this the largest decline for any of the super fund categories, and the lowest customer satisfaction for Public Sector Funds since September 2020. Satisfaction with Self-Managed Funds is down 5.6% points to 74.4%. The report’s findings are from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s most trusted consumer survey, compiled by in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Strong super gains tipped for 2023

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Louise Brannelly
The Australian – Page: 17 : 24-May-23

Data from Chant West shows that the median growth superannuation fund posted a return of f 1.2 per cent in April and 8.1 per cent for the first 10 months of 2022-23. Mano Mohankumar of Chant West shows that returns have been flat so far in May, but growth funds are still on track to achieve a full-year return of around eight per cent. This compares with a loss of 3.3 per cent in 2021-22. SuperRatings’ executive director Kirby Rappell is also upbeat about the sector’s performance in 2022-23.

CORPORATES
CHANT WEST FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD, SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD

Super funds post 1.1pc return amid volatility

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Paulina Duran
The Australian – Page: 15 : 21-Apr-23

Data from Chant West shows that the median growth superannuation fund gained 1.1 per cent in March, and 6.9 per cent in the first nine months of 2022-23. The S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2 per cent in March, but this was offset by strong returns from international shares, as well as Australian and international bonds. Mano Mohankumar of Chant West notes that the median growth fund has gained 29 per cent since the financial market meltdown in March 2020, at the onset of the global pandemic.

CORPORATES
CHANT WEST FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD

Women are (slowly) closing the superannuation gap

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Apr-23

New research from Roy Morgan shows that over the last decade, women have been closing the ‘gender superannuation gap’ on men both for ownership levels and average balances. In 2012 only 66.2% of females had super, compared with 74.8% of males – a gap of 8.6% points. The gap has since been reduced to 3.9% points, with 70.9% of females now having super compared with 74.8% of males. Meanwhile, the average super balance for females has grown faster than males since 2012. Over the last decade the average super balance of females grew by 38% (to $154k), compared to males with an increase of 26% (to $216k). These are the latest results from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey, which is based on in-depth personal interviews conducted with over 500,000 Australians over the last decade, including over 300,000 with superannuation.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Super fund satisfaction drops to 66.6% in February 2023 – down 5.4% points from record high in January 2022

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Mar-23

New data from Roy Morgan’s Superannuation Satisfaction Report shows an overall super fund satisfaction rating of 66.6% in February 2023. This is 5.4% lower than the record high reached just over a year ago in January 2022 (72.0%). Despite the decrease over the last year superannuation satisfaction is still higher than the long-term average of 57.9% from 2007-2023, and also higher than at any time prior to the pandemic years of 2021-22 when the measure was at record highs. However, superannuation satisfaction is now at its lowest since December 2020 (64.8%). Customer satisfaction for Industry Funds has declined by 6.3% points since January 2022 to 67.9% – the largest decline for any of the super fund categories; the customer satisfaction of Retail Funds has declined by 5.6% points to 61.3%. Unisuper and HESTA now have the highest customer satisfaction ratings among Industry Funds, ahead of AustralianSuper and HOSTPLUS. The highest-placed Retail Super Fund is Macquarie, followed by MLC, OnePath and Colonial First State. The report’s findings are from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s most trusted consumer survey, compiled by in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Tax the rich to pay for parental leave contributions: HESTA

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Lucy Dean, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 1-Feb-23

Industry superannuation fund HESTA has used its pre-Budget submission to urge the federal government to cap super fund balances at $5m. CEO Debby Blakey notes that balances of around $5m receive about $70,000 worth of tax concessions annually, which is more than many of HESTA’s members earn in a year. HESTA has also called for the threshold at which high-income earners pay more tax on super to be lowered from $250,000 a year to $180,000; Blakey says this would allow more money to be directed to the Commonwealth Parental Leave Pay scheme. She contends that Australia’s superannuation system has a "persistent gender blind spot" that must be addressed. Some 80 per cent of HESTA’s members are women.

CORPORATES
HEALTH EMPLOYEES’ SUPERANNUATION TRUST AUSTRALIA LIMITED