Seven industry funds control $1.1 trillion

The number of major superannuation funds has more than halved over the last decade to now sit at just 70 funds and, for new funds such as Vanguard, gaining scale represents a slow climb.

That is the bottom line of the latest superannuation data released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) which has starkly revealed the number of funds which have ceased to exist, particularly over the past six years.

At the same time, APRA’s annual fund-level superannuation statistics have confirmed the continuing growth of the major players such as AustralianSuper and the creation of the Australian Retirement Trust (ART).

It has also confirmed the dominance of so-called profit to member funds which, as at 30 June, this year, made up the top seven entities in terms of both members and assets under management.

Taken together, those seven funds accounted for more than $1.1 trillion of Australia’s total superannuation assets.

What the data also reveal is that the vast majority of superannuation fund licensee wind-ups occurred between 2016 and 2022 – a period during which APRA itself was pressing funds to gain scale – something which led to multiple mergers and a number of exits.

The APRA data shows that back in June 2014 there were more than 1,000 superannuation entities under its jurisdiction. Today that number is down to just 70 major entities with the recently-established Vanguard Super being the smallest with just 8,880 members as at 30 June, this year, and $623.8 million in total assets.

The APRA data confirm the standing of AustralianSuper with 3,255,344 members and $311.4 billion in assets under management, and ART with 2,334,304 members and $264.4 billion in assets under management.

Then comes REST with 2,023,006 members with $77.3 billion in assets under management, Aware Super with 1,194,591 members and $163.8 billion in assets under management and Unisuper with a comparatively modest 648,818 members but $127.4 billion in assets under management.

These are then followed by Hostplus with 1,758,858 members and $97.03 billion in assets under management and HESTA with 1,026,691 members and $78.7 billion in assets under management.