Super fund satisfaction down on a year ago after ASX200 drops more than 10% since September 2021
New data from Roy Morgan’s Superannuation Satisfaction Report shows an overall super fund satisfaction rating of 67.9% in September 2022 – a decrease of 2.8% points from September 2021.
The rating for September is just below the record highs (above 70%) reached during 2021 and early 2022 – the highest superannuation satisfaction ratings ever recorded.
The high satisfaction ratings over this period are no surprise when one considers Australian stock-markets reached new record highs during 2021 including the ASX200 peaking at 7,628.9 on August 13, 2021. By the end of September 2022 the ASX200 had dropped to 6,474.2, a decline of 1,154.7 points (over 15%).
The period covered by these ratings is the six months from April – September 2022 which includes the beginning of the RBA’s first interest rate increasing cycle in over a decade which began in early May. Since then, official interest rates have increased by a total of 2.75%.
The cycle of interest rate increases has been caused by the higher than expected inflation readings which increased to a thirty year high of 7.3% in the year to September 2022 – the highest since June 1990.
The Superannuation Satisfaction Report, with data up to September 2022, shows Unisuper with the highest customer satisfaction rating of any of the Industry Funds ahead of Catholic Super, Cbus, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, HESTA, HOSTPLUS, REST Super and Aware Super.
The highest placed Retail Super Fund is IOOF followed by Macquarie, OnePath, Colonial First State, Mercer, Suncorp and BT.
Satisfaction with financial performance of different type of super funds
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, April – September 2021, n=20,605, April – September. 2022, n=21,765. Base: Australians 14+ with work based or personal superannuation.
Customer satisfaction for Public Sector Funds in September is down 4.3% points to 74.2% from a year ago and is down 4.4% points to 74.9% for Self-Managed Funds – although this is still the highest customer satisfaction of any of the four super fund categories.
Overall customer satisfaction for Industry Funds has declined by 1.5% points from a year ago to 70.7% - the smallest decline for any of the super fund categories.
Although customer satisfaction is down overall there are some stand out performers for which customer satisfaction has increased. The Industry Funds with increased customer satisfaction include REST Super up 3.7% points on a year ago, Catholic Super up 2.6% points and Unisuper up 2.3% points.
The customer satisfaction of Retail Funds has declined more than any other category, down 4.9% points on a year ago to 61%, but there are still funds for which customer satisfaction has increased. Retail Funds for which customer satisfaction is up include IOOF, up 12.2% points on a year ago, Suncorp up 7.1% points and Mercer up 0.2% points.
The report’s findings are from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s most trusted consumer survey, compiled by in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says customer satisfaction with superannuation funds dropped slightly from a year ago but remains near the record high satisfaction of 72% reached in May 2021 and January 2022 when Australian share-markets hit record highs:
“Roy Morgan’s superannuation customer satisfaction ratings for the six months to September 2022 show industry satisfaction at 67.9%, down 2.8% points on a year ago. Despite the fall, customer satisfaction remains well above long-term averages and higher than at any point prior to 2021.
“The drop in customer satisfaction mirrors the performance of the ASX200 over the past year which hit a record high of 7,628.9 on August 13, 2021 and had dropped by over 1,150 points to close at 6,474.2 at the end of September 2022 – a decline of over 15%.
“There have been declines across all categories over the last year. Retail Funds are down 4.9% points to 61% and are the lowest rated category while Industry Funds dropped 1.5% points to 70.7% – the smallest drop of any of the four types of super.
“Although both have experienced a drop in satisfaction compared to a year ago Self-Managed Funds on 74.9% (down 4.4% points) and Public Sector Funds on 74.2% (down 4.3% points) remain the two sectors with clearly the highest satisfaction – well above the overall average.
“The Industry Superannuation Funds with the highest customer satisfaction in September 2022 include Unisuper, which increased customer satisfaction by 2.3% points despite the broader down-trend, Catholic Super, Cbus and AustralianSuper. The Retail Fund which had the largest increase in customer satisfaction over the last year has been IOOF, up by 12.2% points from a year ago.
“Looking forward the market faces a challenging environment as we head into 2023 with the latest ABS CPI figures showing Australian inflation hitting 7.3% in the year to September 2022 – the highest inflation for over three decades since June 1990 (7.7%).
“The higher than expected inflation has led to the RBA commencing its first interest rate increasing cycle in over a decade and the central bank has now lifted rates by a total of 2.75% since May to 2.85% – the highest official interest rates have been since May 2013. Interest rates are expect to increase again in December at the RBA’s final meeting for the year.”
For comments or more information about Roy Morgan’s superannuation data please contact:
Roy Morgan Enquiries
Office: +61 (3) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
