Total superannuation assets around the country stood at $1.14 trillion as of June 30, 2007, representing an increase of $225.4 million or 26.4 per cent over the 12 month period according to the latest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) statistics.
However, the recent downturn in world equity markets would mean the total assets of super funds would currently be lower than those for the reported period SuperRatings managing director, Jeff Bresnahan said.
"The investment side would have resulted in a drop of 5 per cent from that net asset base," he said.
While the Superannuation Guarantee Levy would have ensured a level of inflows into super funds over the past eight months Bresnahan suspected that the downward assets revaluations during this time would have outweighed any contribution flows upwards.
The industry body's Annual Superannuation Bulletin showed also superannuation funds are now more inclined to use fund managers rather than investing directly.
Super funds now use an average of 4.6 fund managers to invest contributions compared to an average of 1.4 back in June 2004. In line with this trend the proportion of funds that directly invest all contributions fell from 24 per cent to just 6 per cent over the same three year period.
Furthermore, between 2004 and 2007 the report showed that death and disability insurance had become more prominent features of superannuation funds. To the end of June 2007, 75.1 per cent of funds provided these insurance options for their members while 61.5 did so at June 2004.
