AustralianSuper the only fund in the global big league

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

1 December 2022

Just one Australian superannuation fund, AustralianSuper, has made it into the global top 20 of pensions and investment products compiled by Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute.

At a time when around 20 superannuation funds have been the subject of merger activity over the past 12 months, the global report noted that “Australia is witnessing a notable consolidation of superannuation funds”.

The report also noted that regulation has been a significant influencing factor in all regions.

“In the US, increased politicisation of ESG threatens slowdown of the sustainability agenda. Whereas Europe is driving ahead with its ESG agenda by upgrading its taxonomy and regulatory policies,” the analysis said.

While, only AustralianSuper made it into the top 20 of pension and investment funds the global assessment did not take account of the creation of the Australian Retirement Trust (ART) treating the merged QSuper and Sunsuper separately.

AustralianSuper ranked 20^th in the league table while Australia’s Future Fund ranked 26^th. QSuper on its own ranked 54^th and Sunsuper ranked 87^th.

Only 15 Australian pension and investment funds made into the Top 300, representing 4.2% of the total. The greatest number of large funds were domiciled in the US.