The Financial Services Council (FSC) has claimed that the average MySuper fund offered by its members have outperformed the equivalent offering from industry funds basing the claim on an independent analysis of MySuper statistics released earlier today.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released its interim Quarterly MySuper Statistics report for the first six months of this year, covering the period for when MySuper become compulsory from 1 January.
FSC said this data had been analysed by an independent actuary and its members' funds had averaged net returns of 3.4 per cent compared to an average industry funds return of 3.18 per cent since the commencement of MySuper.
FSC did not detail how many funds were compared from its members or the industry funds sector but stated they were of comparable size and types and held significant market share.
FSC director of policy Andrew Bragg said the release of the statistics changed the way superannuation is reported and pointed to the benefit of the MySuper system.
"For the first time, Australians have APRA data which directly compares the fees and performance of MySuper products. From today, APRA is showing true ‘apple with apple' comparisons," Bragg said.
"This is evidence that MySuper is delivering both transparent, comparable information and lower fees. This is good news for 70% of working Australians who do not choose a superannuation fund."
Bragg also stated that fees in the default fund market could be lower but were maintained due to conditions advantageous to industry funds.
"Fees can be further reduced if the industry fund-dominated default superannuation market is opened up to competition."
"MySuper has been a game changer for the default superannuation market. Industry funds are now more expensive and offer lower returns than FSC member funds, but maintain a monopoly on default contributions through the Fair Work Commission process," Bragg said.
APRA's release of the quarterly MySuper statistics showed there were 93 registered superannuation entity (RSE) licensees offering a total of 116 MySuper products at 30 June 2014, with total assets held in MySuper products at $363.2 billion, or 32 per cent of total RSE assets.
