Industry superannuation funds have held on to their lead over retail funds for satisfaction, but only just, meaning the “advantage has now largely dissipated”, Roy Morgan research said.
The Roy Morgan Single Source survey showed industry fund satisfaction with financial performance was at 59.6 per cent in the six months to August, while retail funds remained marginally behind at 58.9 per cent.
In August 2010, industry funds held a 53.6 per cent satisfaction rate, while retail funds held a 47.5 per cent satisfaction rate.
Roy Morgan Research industry communications director, Norman Morris, said: “Of particular significance is the fact that industry funds have now only got a narrow lead in satisfaction over their retail rivals to the point where their strong market positioning on this has been largely dissipated.”
Morris noted, however, that satisfaction with self-managed super funds in the $250,000 and over group stood at 77.7 per cent, nudging ahead of both retail (72.9 per cent) and industry funds (74 per cent).
At the top end, members with $700,000 or more in their super make up only 2.5 per cent of people with super but have 17.5 per cent of total balances.
Those with $250,000 or more make up over half of all funds (52.7 per cent) but represent only 14.3 per cent of total customers.
“This shows the significance of making sure that these people at the top should be targeted to achieve the highest levels of satisfaction if funds are to be retained and attracted,” the research said.
Retail funds remained ahead of industry funds in the high value market ($700,000), with satisfaction ratings of 81.1 per cent compared to 77.6 per cent for industry funds.
However, satisfaction with the self-managed super fund sector was miles ahead among the high value market, with a rating of 85.8 per cent.
