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32nd Heron Quality Star Ratings Released
Released: 1 February, 2022
2022 Calendar Year Assessment
Leading independent superannuation and actuarial consultancy, The Heron Partnership, has released its latest half-yearly assessment of superannuation funds for calendar year 2022
Originally launched in 2006, the 2022 calendar year ratings are the 32nd public assessment undertaken by Heron. These ratings covered 100 major superannuation products and 0 pension products. The superannuation products included 33 commercial products, 48 industry funds, 19 specialist "corporate" products
The Heron Partnership's Managing Director, Chris Butler, said, "Through the Heron rating process our goal is to provide a realistic and objective representation of the strengths and weaknesses of the products. Our ratings are based on feature specific benchmarks that guide our assessors to rate each feature objectively.
Of the 100 superannuation products assessed, 66 have been judged as outstanding quality and awarded 5 Heron Quality Stars. This in itself is an endorsement of the overall quality of the superannuation products available."
The following table lists the superannuation products that received Heron's highest rating.
Outstanding Superannuation Products
| Acclaim Super & Pension | Mercer SmartSuper Plan - Employer Section |
| Active Super | Mercer Super Trust - Corporate Superannuation Division |
| AMP MyNorth | Mine Super |
| AMP SignatureSuper | MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| ANZ Smart Choice Super for employers and their employees (Employer Sponsored) | MLC MasterKey Super Fundamentals |
| Asgard Open eWRAP Super | MLC Navigator Retirement Plan Series 2 |
| AustralianSuper Personal Plan | MLC Wrap Super Service Series 2 |
| AustralianSuper Plan | netwealth Super Accelerator Plus - Employer Sponsored Super |
| AustralianSuper Public Sector Division | netwealth Super Accelerator Plus - Personal Super |
| AustralianSuper Select | netwealth Super Wrap - Employer Sponsored Super |
| Aware Super | NGS Super |
| CareSuper Employee Plan | OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super and Pension |
| CareSuper Personal Plan | Plum Super - Corporate Division |
| Catholic Super | Plum Super - Personal Division |
| Cbus Industry Super | Prime Super (Health Division) |
| Equip MyFuture | Prime Super (Prime Division) |
| Equip MyFuture - Corporate | REST Corporate |
| eXpand Super | REST Super |
| FIRST Super | Russell Investments Master Trust - iQ Super - Employer |
| HESTA Corporate Super | Russell Investments Master Trust - iQ Super - For Life |
| HESTA Super | smartMonday DIRECT |
| Hostplus | smartMonday PRIME |
| Hostplus Executive | Spirit Super |
| Hostplus Personal Super Plan | Suncorp Brighter Super for Business |
| IOOF Employer Super | Suncorp Brighter Super Personal Super |
| IOOF Personal Super | Sunsuper for life |
| IOOF Pursuit Select Personal Superannuation | Sunsuper for life Business |
| legalsuper | Sunsuper for life Corporate |
| LGIAsuper | Telstra Super - Personal Plus |
| Macquarie Wrap - Super and Pension Consolidator II | UniSuper Accumulation 1 |
| Macquarie Wrap - Super and Pension Manager II | UniSuper Accumulation 2 |
| Media Super - Employer Sponsored Account | UniSuper Personal Account |
| Media Super - Personal Account | VicSuper FutureSaver |
MySuper Investment Option
Heron has again undertaken an assessment of each products MySuper investment option. For their MySuper rating Heron considers the type of option (LifeStages or Single Diversified), the reliability of the historical return history, 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 19 products.
Outstanding MySuper Option
| ANZ Smart Choice Super for employers and their employees (Employer Sponsored) | Russell Investments Master Trust - iQ Super - Employer |
| Bendigo SmartStart Super | Russell Investments Master Trust - iQ Super - For Life |
| BUSSQ MySuper | smartMonday PRIME |
| CareSuper Employee Plan | Sunsuper for life |
| Equip MyFuture | Sunsuper for life Business |
| Equip MyFuture (Corporate) | Sunsuper for life Corporate |
| Mine Super | Telstra Super - Personal Plus |
| NGS Super | TWUSUPER |
| QSuper - Accumulation Account | VicSuper FutureSaver |
| REI Super |
The assessment of personal and corporate superannuation products undertaken by Heron covers about 130 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 Top Ten MySuper Products.
- AustralianSuper Plan (including Personal Plan, Public Sector Division and Select)
- Cbus Industry Super
- HESTA Super
- Hostplus (including Hostplus Executive and Hostplus Personal Super Plan)
- LGIAsuper
- Media Super (Employer Sponsored Account and Personal Account)
- Rest Super (including Rest Corporate)
- Spirit Super
- UniSuper
- Vision Super - Vision Personal
Based on Heron's numeric rating the following products have been designated as Top Ten Products for Investment Features and as Top Ten Products for Insurance Features.
In alphabetical order the Top 10 Personal and Corporate Products in respect to Investment Features are:
Top 10 Investment Features
| Personal | Corporate |
|---|---|
| Asgard Open eWRAP Super | AMP SignatureSuper |
| AustralianSuper Plan | AustralianSuper Select |
| CareSuper Personal Plan | IOOF Employer Super |
| Hostplus | Mercer SmartSuper Plan - Employer Section |
| IOOF Personal Super | Mercer Super Trust - Corporate Superannuation Division |
| Mercer SmartSuper Plan - Individual Section | MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| NGS Super | Plum Super - Corporate Division |
| Plum Super - Personal Division | Russell Investments Master Trust - iQ Super - Employer |
| Sunsuper for Life | Sunsuper for life Business |
| UniSuper | Sunsuper for life Corporate |
In alphabetical order the Top 10 Personal and Corporate Products in respect to Insurance Features are:
Top 10 Insurance Features
| Personal | Corporate |
|---|---|
| Asgard Open eWRAP Super | AMP SignatureSuper |
| HUB24 Super | HESTA Corporate Super |
| legalsuper | IOOF Employer Super |
| netwealth Super Accelerator Plus - Employer Sponsored Super | Mercer SmartSuper Plan - Employer Section |
| netwealth Super Wrap - Employer Sponsored Super | Mercer Super Trust - Corporate Superannuation Division |
| NGS Super | MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| smartMonday DIRECT | Plum Super - Corporate Division |
| Telstra Super - Personal Plus | Russell Investments Master Trust - iQ Super - Employer |
| UniSuper | smartMonday PRIME |
| VicSuper FutureSaver | Sunsuper for life Corporate |
The Heron Quality Star Ratings have 5 levels as follows:
| Rating | Definition |
|---|---|
| 5 Stars | Outstanding |
| 4 Stars | Commendable |
| 3 Stars | Good |
| 2 Stars | Poor |
| 1 Star | Unacceptable |
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.