SuperRatings Annual Award Winners Announced

SUPERANNUATION FUND OF THE YEAR

WINNER: REST

REST, Australia’s largest superannuation fund in terms of members has been named as SuperRatings Fund of The Year for 2010.

At a gala event attended by over 300 of the industry’s leading figures in Melbourne on Tuesday night, REST took the coveted award away from HOSTPLUS who had won the award for the last three years.

This will be good news for the more than 1.7 million Australians who make up REST’s membership.

Commenting on the award, SuperRatings founder Jeff Bresnahan, said, “At a time when we have experienced some of the worst financial markets ever, REST’s long-term investment strategy has clearly been shown to deliver sound relative benefits to members. When one adds to this their significantly enhanced insurance structures and their continued low fee base, REST is clearly delivering excellent value for money to its huge membership base.”

FINALISTS

  • AustralianSuper
  • Catholic Super
  • First State Super
  • HESTA
  • HOSTPLUS
  • NGS Super
  • QSuper
  • Sunsuper
  • Telstra Super

SUPERRATINGS PENSION FUND OF THE YEAR

WINNER: SUNSUPER

The Sunsuper Pension Option was awarded SuperRatings Pension Fund of The Year, providing their second consecutive award in this category.

FINALISTS

  • BUSS(Q) Retirement Pension
  • Catholic Super Allocated Pension
  • First State Super Retirement Income Stream
  • QSuper Pension Account

SUPERRATINGS BEST NEW PRODUCT AWARD

WINNER: AMP Flexible Lifetime Super Easy

A no frills product that reflects a cultural shift within AMP, being the first non-commission product offered by the historically advisor driven entity.

FINALISTS

  • Individuum
  • Suncorp WealthSmart

SUPERRATINGS RISING STAR AWARD

WINNER: ESSSuper

ESSSuper was named as SuperRatings Rising Star for the significant development of its services to members over the past 12 months.

FINALISTS

  • ASSET Super
  • LGsuper
  • MasterSuper
  • OAMPS Super Fund

Super Savvy Award Winner

  • FIRST State Super

7 YEAR PLATINUM PERFORMER AWARD WINNERS*

Awarded to those funds that have achieved a Platinum Rating (our highest) for 7 consecutive years

  • REST
  • AustralianSuper
  • HESTA
  • MTAA Super
  • Sunsuper

5 YEAR SR INDEX INVESTMENT PERFORMANCE AWARDS 2004-2009*

SR50 GROWTH (77-90) INDEX

Investment Option: OSF Super – Mix 90

SR50 BALANCED (60-76) INDEX

Investment Option: Buss(Q) – Balanced Growth

SR50 CAPITAL STABLE (20-40) INDEX

Investment Option: CBUS – Conservative

SR50 INTERNATIONAL SHARES INDEX

Investment Option: Telstra Super Corp Plus – International Shares

SR50 AUSTRALIAN SHARES INDEX

Investment Option: HOSTPLUS Australian Shares

SR50 CASH INDEX

Investment Option: HOSTPLUS Cash

Commenting on the night and the calibre of Australian super funds, Bresnahan said, “Australians are fortunate to have an excellent retirement savings system. Apart from adequacy issues on retirement, the system works well, and provided future government intervention is minimized, people will gradually begin to better understand its advantages.

However, whilst we have a glut of well run and great value for money funds, there continues to exist super funds that offer little relative value which consumers should actively seek to avoid. Whilst super appears to be complex, it is really quite straightforward and Australians are well advised to learn a lot more about what fees they are paying and how their super investments are structured.”

*to 30 June 2009