Industry funds retain satisfaction lead
Industry superannuation funds have retained the lead in satisfaction over retail funds over the last 12 months, according to Roy Morgan Research.
The research house's latest survey found while both industry and retail funds were down in satisfaction, 1.2 percentage points and 1.4 percentage points respectively, industry funds were in the lead at 59.2 per cent over 56.7 per cent for retail funds.
The survey also found in the six months to November 2016 overall satisfaction with the financial performance of super funds was unchanged from October at 58.4 per cent but was down by 0.9 per cent over the year.
Also, 18.5 per cent of fund members said they were ‘very satisfied', down from 19 per cent a year ago.
Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) had the highest satisfaction at 74.3 per cent (down 1.7 percentage points over the last year), followed by public sector funds at 69.8 per cent (up 1.8 percentage points over the last year).
Roy Morgan Research industry communications director, Norman Morris, said: "Although satisfaction with financial performance of superannuation funds is close to the highest it has been since 2008, it is still very low at only 58.4 per cent".
"If this wasn't cause enough for concern, less than one in five members consider themselves ‘very satisfied'. This suggests that most fund members are not very committed to their current fund, and could be persuaded to switch funds when they change employers or if their financial adviser recommends it," he said.
"Also significant is the fact that satisfaction among industry-fund members has remained ahead of retail funds for many years, and they both pose a real threat to self—managed funds where high satisfaction is linked to high balances rather than who manages the funds."
The report also found that CARE Super was the satisfaction leader among the largest funds with a score of 75 per cent in November. It was followed by State Plus (74.4 per cent) and QSuper (71.7 per cent).
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