A statement from Roy Morgan about superannuation fund satisfaction results from February has revealed industry funds led the way in satisfaction with financial performance among almost all surveyed members.
The only group who were more satisfied with retail funds than industry funds were those with account balances of less than $5,000.
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Six months to February 2017, n = 14,554: six months to February 2018, n = 14,651. Base: Australians 14+ with superannuation.
SMSF members came out with the highest overall satisfaction, but Roy Morgan industry communications director Norman Morris pointed out that this was because there were fewer SMSF members with balances below $100,000.
“Our research has highlighted the need to measure members’ satisfaction with performance overall and by account balance.
“For example, those with $700,000 or more in superannuation account for only 4.2 per cent of fund members and yet they hold nearly a quarter (24.4 per cent) of total superannuation funds,” he explained.
“It is in the higher balances where SMSFs have been performing strongly, but [also] where industry funds are potentially posing a threat with their higher levels of satisfaction with performance.”
Mr Morris added that retail funds were trailing behind industry funds in member satisfaction “across all segments except the very low balance members with under $5,000”.
“Although this low value segment makes up 11.1 per cent of members, they only account for 0.1 per cent of balances.
“The challenge for retail funds is to retain this large group as their balances grow rather than face the potential loss to industry funds and perhaps ultimately to SMSFs.”
