APRA regulating fewer and fewer super entities

There were 30.9% fewer superannuation entities being overseen by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) last financial year than a year earlier, according to the regulator’s annual report.

The APRA annual report, published late last week, has reinforced the continuing decline in superannuation fund numbers, with the largest decline being with respect to Small APRA Funds (SAFs) which declined by 42.9%, although there were declines across the board.

However, while the number of super entities has been declining the APRA data has pointed to the continuing rise in assets under management which increased by 12.4% to $3,039.5 billion.

As expected, the bulk of assets are held in public offer funds and rose by 13.6% over the 12-month period to $2,719.3 billion.

The bottom line of the APRA data is that Australia boasted 1,123 APRA-regulated superannuation entities at 30 June, 2024 and this had declined to just 776 by 30 June, 2025.

Public offer funds declined from 84 to 72 over the same period, while small APRA funds declined by 1,000 to 673.

Small APRA funds are limited to six or fewer members and are regarded as being an alternative to self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) with the key difference being that the trustee of a SAF must be professional licensed trustee company.

APRA’s total operating expenditure for the 12 months to 30 June 2025 was $236.1 million against an original budget of $270.2 million. The expenditure was lower than the original budget due to a combination of lower than budgeted staff levels and the deferral of certain project related activities into the 2025-26 financial year.