Super hits $900 billion
Over $900 billion is held in Australian superannuation funds, according to figures released yesterday by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) in their March 2006 Quarterly Superannuation Performance report.
Measuring funds required to lodge quarterly reports, those with at least $50 million in assets, APRA found that the lion’s share of assets are still held in retail funds ($289.2 billion), followed by public sector funds ($151.3 billion), industry funds ($149.6 billion) and corporate funds ($58.8 billion).
The average superannuation return for the quarter was 5.3 per cent. Breaking this down into fund types, corporate funds returned 5.9 per cent, public sector 5.8 per cent, industry funds 5.3 per cent and retail funds 4.9 per cent.
Total assets in superannuation increased by 6.6 per cent, with industry funds showing the highest growth of 9 per cent ($12.4 billion). Public sector funds grew by 6.6 per cent ($9.4 billion), retail funds by 6.5 per cent (17.6 billion) and corporate funds by 5.3 per cent ($2.9 billion).
Just over a third of assets are invested in wholesale trusts (30.3 per cent), 23.6 per cent in life insurance companies and 20.3 per cent in individually managed mandates.
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