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Sharemarket gains push super assets to new heights: APRA
Super industry assets have seen an almost 40 per cent increase in the last five fiscal years, new data has unveiled.
According to new data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), total superannuation industry assets were $3.9 trillion as at 30 June 2024.
Of this, $2.7 trillion – or 69.1 per cent – hailed from APRA-regulated superannuation entities, while $990 billion (25.2 per cent) was held by self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).
In its latest annual bulletin for the financial year 2024, APRA revealed that, over the five years from June 2019 to June 2024, total industry assets have seen an increase of 38.3 per cent, although this number rose to 41.4 per cent for solely APRA-regulated entities.
Over the same period, the number of APRA-regulated funds declined from 1,792 to 1,105, with the number of funds with more than six members declining from 171 to 93.
“In addition, there was a net reduction of 11 pooled superannuation trusts (PSTs) and 599 small APRA funds (six or less members) over the period,” the prudential regulator said.
For entities with more than six members, the annual rate of return for the financial year ended June 2024 was 8.7 per cent, surpassing both the five-year (5.6 per cent) and ten-year (6.4 per cent) average annual return to June 2024.
“Stock markets around the world posted solid gains during the year ended June 2024 offsetting losses incurred by some funds in unlisted property,” the body said.
Moreover, there were $184.2 billion of contributions and $117.5 billion of total benefit payments for the year ended June 2024.
Lump sum benefit payments were 54.6 per cent – or $64.1 billion – of total benefit payments and pension benefit payments were 45.4 per cent ($53.3 billion) over the year to June.
Notably, total benefit payments increased by $15.5 billion over the year, but pension payments had stronger growth (23 per cent) than lump sum payments (9.3 per cent).
According to APRA, net contribution flows increased slightly by $900 million to $62 billion.
“The increase in the Superannuation Guarantee rate to 11 per cent in July 2023, labour force growth and nominal wage growth boosted employer contributions by $14.6 billion in the year,” it said.
While industry assets were still shy of $4 trillion at the turn of the financial year, in November, APRA confirmed that total superannuation assets totalled $4.1 trillion as at September.
MySuper
Turning to MySuper products, APRA revealed that total members’ benefits flows into MySuper products for the year ended 30 June were $117.7 billion, including $77.3 billion from employer contributions and $13.4 billion from member contributions.
Meanwhile, total members’ benefits flows out of MySuper products over the same period were $72.1 billion, including benefit payments of $22.2 billion.
According to the regulator, members’ benefits in MySuper products increased by 11.7 per cent over FY24, from $955 billion to $1.07 trillion.
MySuper member accounts also grew by 3.2 per cent over the year to 30 June 2024, from 14.9 million to 15.4 million, and made up 66 per cent of total fund member accounts.
As at 30 June, the average MySuper account balance was $69,330. For FY23, this figure was $63,976.
Looking at fees, APRA revealed that fees paid in relation to MySuper products totalled $3.3 billion, with 82.8 per cent of fees paid by members and the remaining portion largely stemming from reserves.
Administration fees ($1.8 billion) and investment fees ($1.4 billion) accounted for almost all of the fees paid.
AUTHOR
Jessica Penny
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