NAB has undertaken an in-depth analysis of a large sample of the portfolio holdings data from Australia’s largest super funds made available under regulatory changes to the industry.

The study aims to give superannuation fund investment teams, trustees and ultimately members greater insights into the breadth of investment strategies, country exposures and derivatives hedging being used to protect returns in volatile markets.

Request a copy of the full survey findings here.

For the analysis, NAB examined data taken from 14 of Australia’s largest super funds, with a focus on their MySuper or similar investment products. Taken together, the survey covers more than a million individual holdings across listed, unlisted, and fixed interest assets, representing about 80% of the industry’s assets under management for these type of investment options.

The data has been made available, in highly granular form, for the first time in 2022 under the Corporations Amendment (Portfolio Holdings Disclosure) Regulations 2021 which came into force on November 11, 2021.

Some key findings:

• The data highlights the well-diversified nature of Funds’ portfolios.
• Amongst 14 of the largest Australian Super Funds as of 30 June 2022, the overall average ‘Growth vs Defensives’ split was 68/32%. However, there are some large variances between Funds and between holdings in individual asset classes.
• Funds included in the analysis have on average 46% of listed assets invested domestically and 54% offshore, consistent with evidence (e.g. NAB FX Superannuation Surveys) of increased internationalisation of portfolios.