The lastest market research has shown industry fund members are more satisfied with the investment performance of their superannuation fund than members of retail funds.
In the six months to March 2011, 52.1 per cent of industry fund members were satisfied with the investment performance of their super, while only 46.8 per cent of members of the largest retail funds, including funds of the big four banks and AMP, according to findings from the Roy Morgan Research Superannuation Satisfaction Report.
"The fact that the retail funds continue to trail industry funds at a time when there is much discussion on the remuneration method for planners, should lead to a re-focusing on consumers and who they perceive as being better performers," Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris said.
"Our research has shown that people who are unhappy with their superannuation's performance are more likely to switch their funds, and with the industry funds continuing their advertising assault the retail funds are likely to continue to face ongoing pressure," Morris said.
Industry super fund Catholic Super had the most satisfied members over the six months to March 2011, with 67.8 per cent of them giving the fund's returns the thumbs up.
Health Super came in second with 57.8 per cent of members indicating their satisfaction and CBus third with psotive support from 55.3 per cent of its members.
Among the big retail funds, members of Commonwealth Group's super funds were the most satisfied with 51.9 per cent responding this way, followed by ANZ with 49 per cent of pleased members and NAB Group who delivered satifaction to 47.2 per cent of its members.
The poorest performer was the Westpac Group with 41.4 per cent of satisfied members.
Over the past five years, industry fund members have had higher levels of satisfaction with the performance of their funds, compared to customers of large retail funds.
After the global financial crisis (GFC), satisfaction with the superannuation performance declined considerably through to late 2009.
This decline was more severe for the large retail funds with the result that they fell further behind the industry funds, the research found.
"After showing good levels of improvement in early to mid-2010 following the end of the GFC, overall consumer satisfaction levels for superannuation have levelled out in 2011, demonstrating that consumers are still concerned with the financial performance of one of their most important assets," Morris said.
