The superannuation industry has posted an overall rate of return of -0.9 per cent for the June 2011 quarter, following three successive quarters of positive returns, according to data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
Breaking the returns down to sectors, public sector funds generated a return of -0.2 per cent, followed by industry funds (-0.6 per cent), corporate funds (-0.7 per cent) and retail funds (-1.5 per cent).
The merger between an industry fund and a public sector fund led to a decline in industry fund assets and rollovers in the June 2011 quarter, along with a corresponding increase in public sector assets and rollovers, according to APRA.
The total amount of estimated superannuation assets remained steady at $1.34 trillion over the June 2011 quarter, but over the 12 months to June 2011 there was a 10.9 per cent increase in total estimated superannuation assets.
Self-managed superannuation funds held the largest proportion of superannuation assets in the June 2011 quarter at 31.2 per cent. For retail funds, the proportion of superannuation assets was 27.5 per cent, ahead of industry funds (18.6 per cent), public sector funds (15.1 per cent) and corporate funds (4.5 per cent).
When it came to entities with at least $50 million in assets, there were $23.8 billion in contributions in the June 2011 quarter. Breaking that number down, $9 billion went to retail funds, $8 billion to industry funds, $5.8 billion to public sector funds and $1.1 billion to corporate funds.
Over the quarter, 75.1 per cent of the $23.8 billion in contributions came from employers, while members contributed 24.2 per cent.
Net contribution flows totalled $11.7 billion for the quarter.
