Deloitte has warned that superannuation funds will dominate the ASX within 20 years as total assets hit $10.2 trillion in 2038. Despite ongoing volatility in investment markets, and historically low inflation and cash rates, the Australian superannuation industry has continued to grow. Total superannuation assets rose from $2 trillion at 30 June 2015, to $2.7 trillion at 30 June 2018.

The Australian economy grew 0.4 per cent in the September quarter according to the ABS, but growth is still around its lowest levels since the GFC.“The economy has continued to grow, however the rate of growth remains well below the long-run average,” said ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman. That sentiment was echoed by AMP chief economist Shane Oliver, who said that it was unlikely the economy would meet the RBA’s growth forecast of 2.3 per cent for the year to December.

Diversity needs to be preserved as the consolidation trend in superannuation accelerates, a fund manager has warned, fearing regulators’ pressure on funds to merge could kill competition. APRA has encouraged the movement, urging small and underperforming funds to amalgamate and save their members from “suffering” further deterioration. The executive director of the regulator’s new superannuation department, Suzanne Smith, said funds should also be looking to simplify their offerings.

Financial and insurance services has remained the sector with the highest total remuneration gender pay gap at 29.3 per cent, according to new data from the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency. However, as reported by this year’s Australia’s gender equality scorecard, the finance sector’s pay gap has decreased year on year from its previous 30.3 per cent in 2019, and it has fallen each year from 2013-2014. The national gender total remuneration gap now sits at 20.8 per cent, down 0.5 per cent from last year. On average, Australian men are taking home $25,679 more than their female counterparts every year.

Meanwhile the difference between men and women in average total remuneration for financial services in 2018-2019 was $48,318. The gap in average base salaries sat at 22.2 per cent, or $27,111. The national average difference for base salary was 15.5 per cent, or $15,176 per annum. Finance was among the industries with a lower proportion of women in management compared to women in the workforce, with around 54.7 per cent of employees being women and 41 per cent of leadership roles represented by females.

The rest of this article can be found at investordaily.com.au.

Australians have ranked banking and finance as the worst ethically performing sector, with fund managers being rated among the 10 least principled occupations. The findings were published in the Governance Institute of Australia’s Ethics Index for 2019, which has been based on a survey of more than 1,000 people about their views on ethical issues and conduct. Banking and finance had the lowest ethical rating (as voted by 31 per cent of respondents) and the highest unethical rating (49 per cent.)