Corporate and retail super funds were the big asset losers in the last quarter, while public sector funds and industry funds finished strongly.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) figures for the June 2012 quarter showed corporate funds' assets fell 2.0 per cent ($1.1 billion) to $55.8 billion, followed by retail funds' assets down 1.3 per cent ($4.7 billion) to $372.1 billion.
In contrast, public sector funds' assets increased 1.9 per cent ($4.1 billion) to $222.2 billion, and industry funds were up by 0.6 per cent ($1.5 billion) to $266.0 billion.
Financial Services Council chief economist James Bond said contributions to APRA-regulated funds in 2011-12 recorded their strongest growth since before the global financial crisis.
"A solid quarter of growth in total contributions - up 0.7 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms - continued the positive trend in total contributions which began in mid 2010," he said.
This reflected "solid employment numbers", he said, with growth in total contributions driven by strong compulsory flows which increased by $1.6 billion to $19.9 billion between June 2011 and June 2012.
"However, discretionary flows continue to disappoint, falling by $0.2 billion to $5.6 billion," Bond said.
He added that 2011-12 was the best year for growth in superannuation flows since 2007. Total contributions for the 2011-12 financial year grew by $5.8 billion or 7.3 per cent to $85.9 billion (extrapolating for the one-off increase).
The APRA statistics showed that total estimated assets, including the assets of self-managed superannuation funds and the balance of life office statutory funds, rose by $49.6 billion (3.7 per cent) to $1.4 trillion over the 12 months to 30 June 2012, taking into account an increase of $3.8 billion (0.3 per cent) in total assets over the June quarter.
Contributions to funds with at least $50 million in assets over the June quarter were $29.9 billion, with employers contributing $24.2 billion and members contributing $5.6 billion. Other contributions, including spouse contributions and government co-contributions, totalled $141 million.
During the June quarter, public sector funds received 38.2 per cent ($11.4 billion) of total contributions, retail funds 30.9 per cent ($9.2 billion), industry funds 27.5 per cent ($8.2 billion) and corporate funds 3.4 per cent ($1.0 billion).
Outward rollovers exceeded inward rollovers in the June quarter. Industry funds received $151 million of net rollovers. Corporate, public sector and retail funds had negative net rollovers of $477 million, $728 million and $762 million, respectively.
The annual industry-wide Rate of Return (ROR) for quarterly reporting funds for the year ending 30 June 2012 was 0.4 per cent. The quarterly RORs for each fund type as a whole for the June 2012 quarter were -0.9 per cent for public sector funds, -1.2 per cent for industry funds, -1.5 per cent for corporate funds and -1.8 per cent for retail funds.
