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AUSfund top ERF six years straight

Publication Date: 1 June 2012
Publication:: Super Review
Journalist:: Mike Taylor

AUSfund has again emerged as the best-rated Eligible Rollover Fund (ERF) in the latest assessment issued by the Heron Partnership.
According to Heron Partnership managing director Chris Butler, it is the sixth successive year in which AUSfund has emerged as the top-rated product, earning a "six star quality rating".
The ERFs to earn a "five star quality rating" were SuperTrace, Australian ERF and AMP ERF.
And the good news for the Government as it approaches the implementation of initiatives such as auto-consolidation is that the number of members finding themselves in ERFs has been steadily reducing since 2009 and is now back to levels not seen since around 2005/06.
The Heron Partnership analysis said the number of ERF members had actually reduced by 22 per cent over the past 12 months to stand at 4.754 million, with many of the members having been transferred to the Australian Taxation Office.
It said this had translated into a 1.8 per cent reduction in ERF assets. As well, it pointed to continuing consolidation in the ERF sector, with the current 16 ERFs expected to reduce to 14.
Butler said the combined assets in ERFs at the time of the company’s latest assessment were $5.3 billion, compared with a peak of $5.7 billion in June 2007.
"Over the past year there has been a 1.8 per cent decrease in assets, notwithstanding that all ERFs had positive crediting rates”, he said.
The Heron Partnership analysis also pointed to the two largest ERFs by membership numbers appearing to be "the most proactive and innovative in relocating and engaging their members”.
It’s said AUSfund relocated over 78,000 members with $28.91 in assets during the period, while
Supetrace relocated over 36,900 members with $16.81 of assets.
The analysis said that AERF achieved the highest declared crediting rate of all ERFs with 10.13 per cent through a balanced fund arrangement, while SuperTrace had the best fee structure overall with a consistent fee of 1.55 per cent of assets, regardless of account balance size.