Morningstar Australasia has launched fund analyst research on Australian industry superannuation funds, in order to assist investors in understanding their essential characteristics and risks.
The initiative commenced with the publication of research on four investment options offered by AustralianSuper.
The independent analysis is based on the five key pillars of people, process, performance, parent and price, which Morningstar believes identify the funds most likely to outperform over the long term on a risk-adjusted basis.
"Building retirement savings through superannuation is an important financial goal for the majority of Australians and the industry superannuation sector is a major part of the retirement savings industry," Morningstar Australasia chief executive Anthony Serhan said.
"This research represents another step towards achievement of Morningstar's mission of helping investors achieve their financial goals."
The analyst team selects funds to cover on the basis of an assessment of investment merit and client demand.
Investors and their advisers would be able to understand the essential characteristics and risks of these funds, and build and manage more investment portfolios, Serhan said.
"This also meets the needs of financial planning dealer groups for an independent assessment of industry superannuation funds in the Future of Financial Advice environment," he said.
"We will progressively expand our coverage of the industry superannuation sector, with the intention of providing as broad coverage as possible."
He said helping investors understand all the investments in their portfolio was the driver of the expansion of its analyst research in recent years to cover exchanged-traded funds, listed investment companies and hybrid securities, as well as shares and managed funds.
The research will be available to financial advisers through the Morningstar Adviser Research Centre and Morningstar Adviser Workstation. It will also be published in Morningstar Direct for institutional investors.
Morningstar does not charge or accept payment from superannuation funds or fund managers for the production and publication of analyst research.
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