Over the last 12 months, industry super funds have increased their lead over retail funds for member satisfaction.
In July 2019, 62.8 per cent of people with superannuation in an industry fund reported being satisfied with the financial performance of their fund. This is up 1.1 percentage points on a year ago, and is well above retail funds with 57.4 per cent of their members satisfied (down 1.2 percentage points).
The current lead in satisfaction for industry funds of 5.4 percentage points is an increase from the 3.1 percentage point lead they held 12 months ago.
The best performer across all major industry and retail funds was Cbus with 73.2 per cent of their members satisfied, closely followed by Catholic Super on 71.3 per cent. Third was Unisuper on 69.6 per cent.
The data from the Roy Morgan Research super satisfaction survey is based on annual in-depth at-home interviews with more than 50,000 consumers, including more than 30,000 with superannuation.
Satisfaction with industry super funds is almost at the highest level it has ever achieved, which was 63 per cent in March 2008, before the global financial crisis struck.
Nine of the top 12 performers were industry funds. The only three retail funds to make it into the top 12 were Macquarie with 68.2 per cent, Mercer on 64.4 per cent and Suncorp on 61.1 per cent.
The lowest satisfaction for major funds, beyond the 12 best performers, was recorded by AMP (49.5 per cent), ASGARD (52.5 per cent) and both BT and IOOF on 52.8 per cent.
The biggest improvements in satisfaction among the top 12 over the past year were from Suncorp (up 9.9 percentage points), Cbus (up 8.8 percentage points) and Macquarie (up 5.6 percentage points).
The fund showing the largest decline was Catholic Super, which was down 2.6 percentage points.
Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said the member satisfaction performance reflected the financial performance of the funds.
“The satisfaction of members with the performance of their super fund is key to whether a member will continue to hold their super with their current fund or consider choosing a new fund,” Ms Levine explained.
“The increase in industry fund satisfaction to some extent tracks the performance of the Australian share markets which reached a new record high in July nearly 12 years after their previous high prior to the GFC.
“However the decline in member satisfaction with retail super funds from a year ago, by 1.2 percentage points to 57.4 per cent, shows there is more to managing superannuation than a high-flying share market.”
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