Early superannuation release smashes industry funds

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The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has updated its data on the Morrison Government’s early release of superannuation policy, which reveals that just under $9 billion of payments have been made on nearly 1.2 million applications at an average payment of $7,242:

Looking deeper into the data, we see that industry superannuation funds have dominated withdrawals, comprising all of the top five funds. These five funds alone account for half of total early release applications and withdrawals.

As shown in the next charts, industry fund AustralianSuper has suffered the biggest withdrawals, followed by HostPlus, Sunsuper, REST and CBUS:

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Industry superannuation funds’ member bases have been especially hard hit by the COVID-19 shutdown, with areas like Accommodation & Food Services and Arts & Recreation suffering the heaviest job losses:

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Thus, it makes sense that industry funds are suffering the greatest superannuation withdrawals.

About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.