The superannuation industry has experienced its lowest rate of return (ROR) in the March quarter since APRA started data collection.
In the March quarter of this year, the Australian superannuation industry experienced its lowest rate-of-return (ROR) since the prudential regulator APRA started its data collection 15 years ago.
The annual industry-wide ROR for entities with more than four members was -10.3 per cent, due to a significant downturn in global financial markets as a result of COVID-19, the regulator said in a report.
Source: APRA
Total super assets over the March quarter fell by 7.8 per cent from $2.96 trillion to $2.73 trillion.
Compared to March last year, the drop in assets remained limited at just -0.3 per cent, while the total assets in MySuper products fell 0.4 per cent to $710 billion.
In contrast, assets in self-managed super funds dropped 4.1 per cent to $675.6 billion, from $704.2 billion.
Over the 12 month period, total contributions to the super industry came in at $121.1 billion. Net contribution flows for the year ending March 2020, which include contributions plus net benefit transfers, less benefit payments, were $45.4 billion.