Australia’s high levels of share ownership
Australians have one of the highest levels of equity ownership in the world, and this justifies the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC's) strong focus on listing standards, according to the regulator.
ASIC this week released an assessment of its listing standards relating to equities on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and pointed to the degree to which Australians had embraced share ownership both directly and via superannuation funds.
It said that in October 2014, around 36 per cent of all Australian adults (almost 6.5 million Australians) owned listed investment products, of which equities made up a significant proportion.
As well, it said that approximately 23.5 per cent of superannuation fund investments (funds with more than four members) were held in Australian-listed equities, equating to $317.2 billion of the $1.4 trillion in superannuation investments.
Topping this out, ASIC said that approximately 30 per cent of self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) investments were held in Australian-listed equities, equating to $178.4 billion of a total $594.6 billion.
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