Major super funds post near-identical returns but tell different stories
Five of Australia’s largest superannuation funds have just published results so similar they barely needed five press releases.(Joey Csunyo/Unsplash)
Regulatory settings have nudged funds into similar listed portfolios, so differentiation now happens in unlisted assets, where disclosures ranged from detailed to silent.
Five of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, with combined AUM of more than A$1.1tn ($763bn), reported their results on July 3. The headline numbers for their default options, all within 60 basis points of each other, barely needed five press releases.
For the financial year ended June 30, 2026, Rest’s growth option returned 9.81 per cent, AustralianSuper’s balanced option 9.77 per cent, Hesta’s balanced growth option 9.46 per cent and Cbus’ growth option 9.25 per cent. These were all results for their MySuper options, the regulated products members land in if they make no investment choice.
The Australian Retirement Trust reported 9.21 per cent for its high growth accumulation option, though this is a “lifecycle strategy” which gradually de-risks members as they age, so it reported the option that is the default for members until they turn 50.
The test that herds them
Global equities, powered by the artificial intelligence trade, underpinned the results.
AustralianSuper cited AI as a major driver of global markets, Cbus noted its standout emerging market returns came largely from a handful of Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers that are fuelling the boom, and Rest pointed to four consecutive financial years of double-digit international share returns. HESTA was less specific, crediting “resilient global sharemarkets” as a key contributor.
The similar returns can be partly explained by the regulatory environment. Research by David Bell and Geoff Warren of The Conexus Institute, a superannuation-focused think tank, argues that the industry’s institutional settings are pushing funds towards “substantially look-alike” portfolios.
These settings include the Australian government’s Your Future, Your Super performance test, which since 2021 has assessed every default super product against a set of benchmarks chosen by the regulator. Those that fail the test once must notify members of their failure and take steps to rectify their performance. A second consecutive failure sees the product closed to new members.
Over the years, super funds have learned to manage the test, but this has resulted in some unintended consequences, including a tendency for funds to hug those listed benchmarks. That leaves unlisted assets as the main arena in which funds can still differentiate themselves.
Five responses to the unlisted question
ART’s chief investment officer Ian Patrick was candid in acknowledging that global share markets were the standout across the fund’s diversified portfolios with “unlisted assets lagging globally”. But he also saw an opportunity there, disclosing that ART invested an additional A$12bn in private markets over the year and committed another A$12bn for future years. “We’re seeing better value emerging in private markets as valuations adjust”, he said.
Michael Clancy, CIO of Rest, identified the fund’s private equity and infrastructure portfolios as key contributors, backing the claim with realised events rather than revaluations. He cited the private equity programme’s first co-investment exit from With Intelligence, as well as Blackstone’s acquisition of a minority stake in Rowan Digital Infrastructure, in which Rest holds an interest through Quinbrook.
Cbus’ CIO Leigh Gavin cast real assets as the portfolio’s ballast in unpredictable markets, pointing to strong returns from Cbus’ property arm and an investment in Atmos renewables that also shows the fund remains committed to the energy transition. Through its external private equity managers, the fund’s members gain exposure to companies such as SpaceX and Anthropic “well before they hit public markets and valuations may climb”, he added.
AustralianSuper was the most reticent of the four that offered a narrative. Private credit and private equity “showed improved performance”, the fund said, without providing specifics.
HESTA’s CIO Sonya Sawtell-Rickson flagged healthcare, housing, climate solutions and AI as long-term themes the fund is pursuing amid “persistent inflation and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty”.
But, the super fund made no mention of private markets, which is itself a choice.