Satisfaction gap between retail and industry funds remains

Retail superannuation funds still lag behind industry funds in terms of customer satisfaction, research shows.  

In a trend that has stayed constant for almost a decade, satisfaction with retail funds still sat below industry funds at 45.5 per cent compared to 50.8 per cent in the six months till August 2013, according to Roy Morgan's Single Source survey.  

However, neither came close to self-managed super funds (SMSFs), which recorded a satisfaction score of 71.6 per cent, the survey of more than 30,000 members showed.  

In the 10 years since Roy Morgan has been running the 'Superannuation Satisfaction' survey, SMSFs have been an average 20 percentage points ahead of their counterparts.

"Our research shows that the major reason that people are switching to SMSFs are associated with the poor investment performance and the level of fees and charges and as a result their funds are moving from retail and a to a lesser extent industry funds into SMSFs," Roy Morgan's industry communications director, Norman Morris, said.  

In terms of individual funds, ESSSuper still tops the table with a satisfaction rating of 75.4 per cent, followed by CatholicSuper on 75 per cent.