Pension products the new focus

The days of contributing to a superannuation fund and then transferring to a specialist pension provider appear to be over, according to the latest analysis from actuarial consultancy Chant West.

The analysis, released this week, argues that to remain competitive superannuation funds are going to have to offer pensions in circumstances where pension type products in the retail space have grown very quickly.

The Chant West material suggests that while industry and public sector funds have sought to climb onto the pension products bandwagon, the assets in these products remain quite small, with the total pension assets of the 20 major industry and public sector funds being only $11 billion out of a total of about $115 billion.

What is more, the research states that of that $11 billion, about $7 billion is accounted for by just two funds — Qsuper and Unisuper.

Looking at the best and worst performers, the Chant West research names the top five growth funds over the three years to June 30 as being Catholic Super Balanced with a return of 10.3 per cent, AGEST Balanced (10.2 per cent), Catholic Super Moderately Aggressive (9.5 per cent), JUST Balanced (9.3 per cent), and Sunsuper Growth (9.2 per cent).

It named the bottom five funds as being AON Balanced (4.2 per cent), AXA Summit Active Balanced (5.3 per cent), Asset Medium Growth (5.3 per cent), United Capital Growth (5.7 per cent), and State Super FS Growth (6.2 per cent).