The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is unlikely to start collecting statistical data on the performance of superannuation funds at the investment option level until July 2013.

The framework for the data collection will first have to go through consultation with the industry and other stakeholders, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Reserve Bank of Australia, which will take place sometime next year.

"APRA's first consultation is on the standards and our second consultation will be on the statistics, and that will not be until next year, 2012," APRA deputy chair Ross Jones told a Senate Economics Legislation Committee estimates hearing last month.

"We will then develop the new statistical collection. My guess is that that statistical collection will not begin until 1 July 2013."

The prudential regulator already publishes super fund performance data, but the current figures are based on total funds under management and do not reflect the performance of an existing member option.

The new data framework is yet to be decided, but Jones indicated it would contain information on returns and more effective information on costs and efficiencies achieved through economies of scale.

The current data was intended for prudential use and should not be used as a base for members to make a decision on which fund to choose, but the new data, which would allow for comparison between MySuper options, would cater for consumers, he said.

"Our primary focus in the collection of statistics for us has always been prudential purposes, but going forward there is an expectation that our statistical collection will provide more information for consumers than it has in the past," he said.