Industry superannuation fund members are more satisfied with the performances of their accounts than they were 12 months ago, according to new figures.

Research house Roy Morgan reports that industry super funds increased their lead over retail funds in member satisfaction levels in the 12 months to January, with 62.1 per cent of members satisfied with their funds’ performance.

For privately owned retail funds, the satisfaction level was 57.3 per cent.

Source: Roy Morgan

The latest satisfaction figures follow the Hayne banking royal commission, in which bank-owned superannuation funds were hauled over the coals for issues such as charging fees for no service and charging for advice to dead clients. The non-profit industry, corporate and government sectors were not beset by similar issues.

The figures show industry funds increased their satisfaction lead over retail funds to 4.8 percentage points, compared to 1.6 percentage points 12 months earlier.

The results are from the newly released Roy Morgan Satisfaction with Financial Performance of Superannuation in Australia January 2019 report.

Of the top 10 performers in satisfaction levels, eight were industry funds. The best outcome was for Catholic Super, which had a 72.8 per cent satisfaction rating, up 9.8 percentage points for the year.

The next two places were filled by UniSuper and HESTA. Macquarie and Colonial were the only retail funds in the top 10. Their satisfaction levels, along with those of a couple of industry funds, actually fell over the year.

The  chart demonstrates that the biggest improvers in satisfaction among the top 10 in the period were Catholic Super (up 9.8 percentage points), HESTA (up 5.7) and AustralianSuper (up 3.7). The funds with the biggest falls were Tasplan (down 5.1 percentage points) and Cbus (down 5).

Satisfaction with retail funds declining

Over the year, retail fund satisfaction levels actually fell by 1.8 percentage points – from 59.1 per cent to 57.3 per cent.

The data in this latest report represents some of the findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey, which is based on in-depth face-to-face interviews with more than 50,000 consumers a year in their homes, including more than 30,000 with superannuation.

Results are based on interviews conducted in the six months to January 2019.

The New Daily is owned by Industry Super Holdings