Heron Quality Star Ratings - 2015 Calendar Year Assessment

Released: 9 February, 2015

2015 Calendar Year Assessment

The latest half-yearly assessment of superannuation funds for calendar year 2015 has just been released by The Heron Partnership, a leading independent superannuation and actuarial firm.

This is the 18th assessment undertaken by Heron and it covered 145 superannuation products, which included 120 personal products (comprising 60 master trusts & 60 industry funds) and 25 master trust and industry fund products specifically designed for the corporate superannuation market.

The products that achieved the highest numeric rating in each product classification receive Heron’s Top Rated Product award for that classification and are awarded 6 Stars.

The Heron Partnership’s Managing Director, Chris Butler, said, “We are delighted to announce that AustralianSuper and MLC MasterKey Business Super have again achieved the highest numeric rating for their respective product category in our 2015 assessment and therefore receive the Top Rated Product awards”.

Heron’s Top Rated Superannuation Products for 2015

Mr Butler said “This is the 3rd occasion that AustralianSuper has achieved Top Rated Product status and the 6th occasion that MLC MasterKey Business Super has been judged as the Top Rated Product within the Corporate superannuation division.”

The 85 superannuation products rated as “outstanding quality” and therefore awarded 5 Heron Quality Stars are (in alphabetical order) as follows.

Outstanding Personal Superannuation Products

MySuper Investment Option

Heron has specifically reviewed each products MySuper investment option. For their MySuper rating Heron has taken into account the type of option (LifeStages or Single Diversified), the reliability of the historical return history, the potential member confusion and degree of difficulty to transfer the ADAs, the TAA range, the level and type of active/passive management, actual or indicative historical investment performance, ease of understanding and fee based on the PDS disclosure. In addition, in assessing the LifeStages options Heron considered whether the structure included cohorts, the cohort age band period and the cohort curve shape.

Based on this assessment criteria, Heron awarded 5 Stars to the following 46 products.

Outstanding MySuper Option

The assessment of personal and corporate superannuation products undertaken by Heron covers about 120 key product features that are grouped under 5 Areas of Importance of Investment Arrangements, Insurance, Contributions, Ancillary Benefits, and Communications. Investments and Insurance have the greatest impact on a product’s rating with weightings of 55% and 30% respectively. Based on Heron’s numeric rating the following products have been designated as a Top Ten Product for Investment Features and Insurance Features, based on Heron’s numeric rating.

In alphabetical order the Top 10 Personal and Corporate Products in respect to Investment Features are:

Top 10 Investment Features

In alphabetical order the Top 10 Personal and Corporate Products in respect to Insurance Features are:

Top 10 Insurance Features

The Heron Quality Star Ratings have 5 levels as follows:

Details of the Heron Quality Star Ratings, including the assessment methodology and products awarded with 5 Heron Quality Stars, are featured on The Heron Partnership's web site and their Heron Advisor product research and comparison service.