The latest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data has revealed the impact of market volatility on superannuation fund returns and assets, with total assets having fallen by $4.3 billion in the December quarter of last year.
The December fall represented the first real downturn evidenced in the APRA data for more than five years, and the regulator pointed out that despite the decline, superannuation assets actually rose by 15.4 per cent to a total of $1.18 trillion over the 2007 calendar year.
And it was retail funds and corporate funds that emerged as having suffered the most severe decline in the value of their assets, with retail fund assets falling by $4.8 billion (1.3 per cent) to $373.3 billion while corporate fund assets fell by $1.2 billion (1.6 per cent) to $70.2 billion.
Industry funds remained the fastest growing sector, recording growth of 1.4 per cent in assets during the December quarter to $207.4 billion, while public sector fund assets increased by 0.2 per cent to $300 million.
Notwithstanding the decline in assets with respect to retail funds, they received 41.6 per cent of contributions during the December quarter compared to 28.7 per cent for industry funds.
