Australians want to know where superannuation is invested
Australians want more clarity on how their super funds are invested as 83 per cent of assets under management in the largest superannuation funds, which amount to $1 trillion, remain undisclosed, according to the analysis conducted by environmental finance campaigners.
The Market Force study also found that 19 funds did not disclose any information at all about their investments while several fund managers, including BT, Colonial First State, and Macquarie operated wrap platforms and even their default options were not revealed.
On the other hand, Energy Super was the only super fund to disclose its entire portfolio, with a further three funds disclosing more than 50 per cent of their holdings. This included HOSTPlus, Cbus and VicSuper.
Additionally, Market Force said that 64 per cent of Australians believed their super fund should reduce its exposure to fossil fuel investment and a third of them said they would consider switching their super fund to another company if their own were investing in coal or coal seam gas extraction.
Market Forces analyst, Daniel Gocher, said: "Australians are in the dark about whether their money is supporting environmentally destructive companies because our compulsory superannuation is an investment black box".
"Though the industry claims to support the improvement of disclosure standards, the reality shows this is manifestly not the case. Australians have a right to know where our money is invested and transparency is a vital first step to enabling it to be used as a force for good," he added.
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