Super

“If you don’t know where you are in a bear market, then you should be in the game… We get asked: ‘is it too late?’ Our view is that it’s never too late to think about defensive strategies.”

“The industry should not be happy to simply sit somewhere in the middle… Increased transparency will drive increased analysis and action. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

The spectre of early release still looms large over the industry, and super’s true believers want its purpose legislated to prevent Australia’s retirement savings from becoming a crisis piggy bank.

Allocations to unlisted property, diversified fixed interest, Australian and international shares had the greatest impact on whether an option passed the test or not.

Dotted with various government funds, the Pacific Islands has emerged as a competitive space for NZ and Australian-based investment advisers.

Consolidation among superannuation clients is changing the nature of Citi’s business with them, and increased appetite for nation-building in Australia means plenty of opportunities in private markets.

Super funds are increasingly adding thematic passive products to their self-directed investment options as they face new competition from Gen Z focused start-ups – but the ultimate theme is still on the outs.

Australian Retirement Trust (ART) and QIC are continuing the trend of big funds investing in affordable housing, working in conjunction with community housing provider Brisbane Housing Company.

A big chunk of super funds are now in “limp mode” as their buffer against the performance test evaporates. And sustainable investing is getting harder when even tobacco exclusions eat up the tracking error budget.

Super fund members have been “spared the worst”, while the outperformance of the top ten funds was generated by active management and chunky allocations to private markets.

Hostplus has topped the keenly anticipated performance charts for balanced super funds for the year to June, as well as the past 10 years, SuperRatings has confirmed. Only three funds showed positive returns for the 12 months.

“When it comes to super, all the evidence points to the more you pay, the less you get. There’s lots of reasons for that, the most fundamental of which is that active management really struggles to outperform the market.”