Six Aussie industry funds make global Top 100

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

12 September 2023

Just five Australian superannuation funds, all of them industry funds, have the scale to be counted within the top 100 pension and investment funds globally but that number is likely to rise as a result of continuing mergers, according to new research from Willis Towers Watson (WTW).

The five funds to make it into the top 100 are, in rank order:

AustralianSuper

Australian Retirement Trust (ART)

Aware Super

UniSuper

Hostplus

Cbus

Australia’s Future Fund also makes it to the Top 100 but only AustralianSuper makes it into the Top 20.

Importantly, Australian funds stepped up where others, globally, struggled. The WTW research revealed that asset under management AUM in the Top 300 decreased by 12.9% over 2022, a significant change from the previous increase of 8.9% over 2021.

The latest TWT Global Top 300 Pension Funds Report also reveals that the Asia-Pacific has supplanted Europe in terms of the region’s share of pension assets, with a significant portion of those assets held within Australian funds.

Commenting on the report, WTW co-head of Governance, Investments Australia, Ellie Boston-Clark noted that Australia had 16 funds included in the top 300, with most improving their ranking on last year.

AustralianSuper remained the only fund in the top 20 globally, but the merger of Sunsuper and QSuper to create the Australian Retirement Trust saw it move to 21^st place this year. The Future Fund remained in 26^th place, while there were two new entrants, EquipSuper and Spirit Super, both a result of underlying mergers. All other Australian funds improved their ranking in 2022.

“The ongoing consolidation in Australia’s superannuation industry has been a major contributor to the rise in ranking of Australian funds, despite the slight weakening of the Australian dollar over the period,” Boston-Clark said.

“We expect the prominence of Australian funds among the top global asset owners to continue in coming years, but as their scale grows, in an ever more challenging and uncertain environment, they will need to shift their focus increasingly to a strong governance focus. This is essential to maintain long-term stability and ensure they meet their performance objectives.”