We have updated our Superannuation Dashboards - ‘Super Funds APRA Level Review’ at The Members Lounge. Our comprehensive data includes the addition of adviser numbers, ABS population data SMSF data.

Note: Our dashboards are mostly interactive allowing users to delve deeper into the statistics.

Below are a small number of the key stats.

A great time to be an adviser - Despite a reduction in the number of financial advisers, Australia’s population growth and improvement in super assets means that the number of people per adviser has increased from 900 to 1,661 since the beginning of 2019. The opportunity in terms of all super assets has more than doubled, from $88 million to $205 million per adviser.

Industry funds dominate - SMSFs steady - Industry funds now dominate the market, making up 33% of total funds compared to 22% in 2016. SMSFs have remained steady throughout at around 26% of the market while Retail funds have declined to only 20%.

Investment returns - Industry funds consistently outperform Retail funds each quarter, while the difference between Industry, Corporate, and Public funds is less pronounced.

Larger entities, less entities - With mergers and takeovers continuing, there are now only 26 Industry fund entities compared to 77 Retail entities. The average Industry fund entity is almost five times larger than the average Retail entity.

Net contributions (net flows) - Since 2012, Industry funds have taken the lead in net contributions, accelerating post-2016. Retail funds suffered after the Royal Commission in 2019 but did better during COVID withdrawals.

Benefit payments - Industry funds may be benefiting from paying out less benefits in the form of pensions compared to the other fund types.

Net Transfers including transfer In / out of SMSFs - A significant amount of assets are transferred between funds each year, with SMSFs benefiting the most from the transfers. However, the gap is closing.

Directly held assets - Industry funds typically have 60% of assets held directly, compared to only 12% for Retail funds.

Key expenses - Across all fund types, key expenses have been reducing as a percentage of total assets, with Industry funds leading the way in cost reduction. This could be attributed to the benefits of scale they now have.