Aware Super scooped four wins in total, including the award for Best Fund: Member Services, and Best Fund: Insurance.

The Chant West Super Fund Awards celebrate excellence across 14 categories, showcasing industry best practice to help lift standards across the industry, celebrating the achievements of funds for their work in the important areas of investments, member services, advice and insurance. The awards also play an important role in encouraging ongoing improvement across the sector, with the ultimate goal of delivering better outcomes for members.

The other category winners were:

• Corporate Solutions Fund of the Year – Australian Retirement Trust
• Advised Product of the Year – AMP MyNorth
• Best Fund: Investments – Hostplus
• Best Fund: Advice Services – Brighter Super
• Best Fund: Lifetime Product – AMP MyNorth Lifetime, for the third year in a row
• Best Fund: Innovation – HUB24
• Best Fund: Responsible Investments – UniSuper
• Best Fund: MySuper Performance Outcomes – Hostplus
• Best Fund: Digital Advice – AMP Super
• Specialist Fund of the Year – Team Super

Chant West general manager Ian Fryer says after many years of having a bespoke theme for each year’s awards – which put the spotlight on a key priority or challenge within the industry – Chant West decided not to have a specific theme this year.

“We believe this decision allows each of the 14 categories to have their respective moment in the spotlight, and rightly focus on the individual criteria that underpins each award, without elevating one above another,” Fryer says.

“Highlighting excellence in all 14 categories is important if Australia’s super system is to continue to thrive.”

Fryer says Australia’s retirement saving system is regarded as one of the best in the world.

“The Chant West awards highlight the innovation and excellence at play in the sector, which will help ensure it continues to remain focused on delivering better retirement outcomes for all members.”

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Liz McCarthy

Chant West has confirmed that MLC Retirement Boost^TM on MLC Expand delivers some of the highest income rates of lifetime products and has also rated it ‘Four Apples – Recommended’, which is the highest possible rating for a new product.

MLC Expand CEO, Liz McCarthy, said, “For too long, Australian retirees have been afraid to spend their own money in retirement. MLC Retirement Boost is changing that dynamic by giving Australians a smarter, more flexible way to generate income for life — and it’s exciting to see the industry acknowledge that.

“MLC Retirement Boost delivers the most competitive income levels, empowering retirees to unlock more from their super and feel more secure throughout their retirement journey.

“Receiving a ‘Four Apples – Recommended’ rating from Chant West is a strong endorsement of what we’ve set out to achieve with MLC Retirement Boost – giving Australians more confidence and more certainty in retirement. It reinforces that the market recognises the value of solutions like MLC Retirement Boost that help people make the most of their super.

“We’re seeing advisers adopt MLC Retirement Boost faster than we anticipated, and this strong independent rating from Chant West reflects this momentum. The solution is resonating because it addresses what retirees tell us they want most: dependable income and confidence it will last throughout their whole retirement.”

Chant West General Manager, Ian Fryer, said, “MLC Expand is now one of a small group of providers in market offering a Lifetime Product. As part of our assessment, we modelled a range of scenarios around using MLC Retirement Boost, including different incomes and singles vs couples. In all scenarios, key income metrics were almost always higher using a 50/50 strategy with MLC Retirement Boost and an account-based pension, than with just an account-based pension.

“MLC Retirement Boost provides financial advisers with flexibility to meet a range of client needs, and its adviser and client portals have rich functionality, including a straight-through application process and a well-presented interface.

“Our modelling shows that a strategy including MLC Retirement Boost provides higher annual income through the income that continues for life, as well as higher age pension payments, giving retirees greater confidence to spend more in retirement to maintain a higher standard of living.

“We also found that the outcomes delivered from MLC Retirement Boost (Pension) product are slightly above other similar lifetime products, and its range of features may lead to better outcomes than most other Lifetime Products. Use of Retirement Boost (Super) approaching retirement also further improves outcomes.”

This recognition also coincides with MLC Expand receiving 2026 Rainmaker AAA Quality Ratings for MLC Expand Essential and Expand Extra.

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Ian Fryer

Chant West and the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) have jointly launched a framework to make it easier for financial advisers to work with superannuation funds to support their shared clients and fund members.

Called the Adviser-Ready Fund, it will help ensure that more Australians have choice about how they access financial advice, and that financial advisers can access the information they need to support their clients throughout their super saving and retirement journeys.

Chant West general manager, Ian Fryer, says that with input from FAAA members, the purpose-built framework includes tailored underlying criteria to assess the services and information that super funds provide to financial advisers to help them support clients who are fund members.

“Chant West and the FAAA share a commitment to creating a stronger alignment between the work of the super and advice sectors to ultimately create better financial outcomes for more Australians.

“It is critical that more Australian consumers have access to great financial advice. The Adviser-Ready Fund accreditation will help ensure that more consumers have choice about how they access advice, and that advisers can find the information they need to support their clients.”

FAAA CEO, Sarah Abood, says quality, professional financial advice is at the heart of helping Australians enjoy an economically secure retirement, and the Adviser-Ready Fund accreditation will assist advisers who are working on behalf of their clients to achieve this.

“A panel of FAAA members who use all types of superannuation products – including SMSFs, platforms, and pooled vehicles such as retail and ‘profit to member’ super funds – were involved in developing the key assessment criteria. This helps ensure that the criteria are focused on what advisers actually need to assist their clients,” Abood says.

“It is important to note the Adviser-Ready Fund is not an investment rating. It is an assessment of how effectively a super fund is supporting external financial advisers who need to access information and implement advice on behalf of their clients.”

The key criteria include:

• access to client’s super fund holding information (via an adviser portal)
• ability to transact on behalf of clients, including digital signatures and consents
• ability to deduct advice fees
• key product features that support the delivery of tailored advice in relation to super
• ease of advisers arranging fee deductions and third-party authorities, and
• third-party adviser support through dedicated contact centres.

“There are 24 criteria that funds are assessed against, and they need to meet 16 out of the 24 criteria to receive the Adviser-Ready Fund certification,” Fryer says.

The funds that have achieved a certification for 2026, indicating they are operationally ready to support external professional financial advice, are:

• AMP MyNorth
• Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings
• Aware Super
• Brighter Super
• BT Panorama
• CFS Edge
• CFS FirstChoice
• Expand
• HUB24
• Macquarie
• MLC MasterKey
• Netwealth

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Mano Mohankumar and Ian Fryer

Super funds delivered a positive return in February, with the median growth fund (61–80% growth assets) gaining 1.1% for the month. However, markets have since come under pressure. Escalation of the conflict in the Middle East in early March pushed oil prices higher and renewed interest rate concerns amid rising inflation. Share markets have fallen in response, and Chant West estimates the median growth fund is down 3.8% so far in March. This brings the financial-year-to-date return back to about 2.5%.

Chant West head of superannuation investment research, Mano Mohankumar, says that during periods of volatility, it’s important that super fund members see short-term movements in context.

“It’s critical for members to keep in mind that super is a long-term investment and there will inevitably be periods of market weakness through their super journey. While we recognise that members have different levels of comfort when their balance goes backwards, the majority can afford to remain patient, including many older members. A lot of Australians don’t take out all of their super as a lump sum at retirement, meaning a substantial amount is likely to remain within the super system in the pension phase, often for many years. In reality, their investment horizon is longer than they might think. 

“Additionally, when markets fall sharply, some people consider moving to lower-risk options or cash, with a view to moving back later, generally out of fear or as an attempt to time the market. Far more often than not, that approach results in poorer long-term outcomes than if they stay the course. Not only do they crystalise their losses, but also risk missing part or all of the subsequent market rebound. We would encourage those members who are thinking of switching options to see a financial adviser.

“It’s also important to remember that super funds delivered strong results in each of the previous three financial years – 9.2% in FY23, 9.1% in FY24 and 10.4% in FY25%. Returns at those levels shouldn’t be expected every year, but importantly, super funds continue to deliver on their longer-term return and risk objectives.”

The table below compares the median performance to the end of February 2026 for each of the traditional diversified risk categories in Chant West’s Super Fund Performance Survey, ranging from All Growth to Conservative. It doesn’t include any estimated performance for March to date. All risk categories have generally met their typical long-term return objectives, which generally range from CPI + 1.5% for Conservative funds to CPI + 4.25% for All Growth.

Long-term performance remains above target

MySuper products have been operating for just over 12 years, so when considering performance, Mohankumar says it’s important to remember that super is a much longer-term proposition. 

“Since the introduction of compulsory super in July 1992, the median growth fund has returned 8% p.a. The annual CPI increase over the same period is 2.7%, giving a real return of 5.3% p.a. – well above the typical 3.5% target. Even looking at the past 20 years, which includes three major share market downturns – the GFC in 2007-2009, COVID-19 in 2020, and the high inflation and rising interest rates in 2022 – super funds have returned 6.8% p.a., which is still well ahead of the typical objective.”

The chart below shows that for most of the time, the median growth fund has exceeded its return objective over rolling 10-year periods, which is a commonly used timeframe consistent with the long-term focus of super. The exceptions are two periods between mid-2008 and late-2017, when it fell behind. This is because of the devastating impact of the 16-month GFC period (end-October 2007 to end-February 2009) during which growth funds lost about 26% on average.

By Mano Mohankumar, Head of Superannuation Investment Research and Ian Fryer, General Manager.

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Ian Fryer

Cyber security and the ability of a super fund to deliver reliable lifetime income for those in decumulation phase are emerging as the two key tests of whether funds are fit for purpose for Australians planning their retirement, says Ian Fryer, general manager with Chant West.

He says cyber risk is no longer just an IT or compliance issue but a core component of retirement service delivery.

“As the balances of Australian super accounts are growing, they are increasingly becoming attractive targets for cyber criminals. Fraud risks can arise during pension commencement, rollovers, withdrawals or account changes, meaning funds must demonstrate strong cyber protection for their members.”

It is for this reason that cyber security has been added to the Epic Retirement Tick criteria, Australia’s first consumer-facing benchmark assessing a super fund’s retirement-readiness for its retiree and pre-retiree members.

“To achieve the Tick, super funds need to demonstrate that they are cyber secure, and that they receive external certification of cyber security measures, at least every two years,” Fryer says.

“They need to demonstrate secure online ID for digital identity verification. They also need to meet multifactor identification requirements to login and also for a range of other high risk activities, such as ad hoc withdrawals, changing payment details, and also if there’s a change to the power of attorney.

“The focus on cyber is a growing risk, and once you’re drawing down your money, you are absolutely a target.”

Fryer says the other important issue for retirees that super funds are grappling with is the development of lifetime income products for those entering the draw-down/retirement phase.

“We need to see super funds not just offering products designed to deliver income for life (including annuities, pooled longevity solutions or hybrid retirement income structures), but also educating members about the solution and explaining when they are appropriate,” Fryer says.

“The industry is still in the early stages of developing scalable lifetime income solutions, and there is more work to be done. Many funds are grappling with product complexity, regulatory settings and low member awareness of longevity protection products.

“Currently, it’s very hard for a consumer to compare one product against another. Yes, you can look at performance, you can look at fees, but how do you compare the services they provide? When you get to retirement, those services are just as important, maybe even more important, than fund performance.

“It’s not good enough for a super fund to just to have a product. It is also important to have the education, guidance and advice about these products. If professional financial advice is needed, we don’t want it to cost members $5000. We want it to cost $1500.

“What we are looking for is education or advice that helps members specifically on whether to and then how to use a lifetime product.”

Fryer says those approaching retirement are still hesitant to adopt lifetime products because the decisions can be difficult to reverse and require a level of guidance or advice many members do not currently receive.

“With more Australians entering retirement with larger super balances than previous generations, the pressure on funds is to deliver both secure systems and sustainable income.”

Chant West and the Epic Retirement Institute launched the Epic Retirement Tick assessment for super funds in 2025. It is a retirement-readiness framework, developed in a partnership with Chant West and the Epic Retirement Institute, that offers a consumer-focussed assessment against 20 key criteria. They are measures of a fund’s retirement readiness including investment options tailored to the pension phase, retirement income products, drawdown guidance, advice pathways, calculators and modelling tools, education and engagement strategies, and service delivery measures such as pension payment timeliness and call centre performance.

It establishes a benchmark for best practice for super funds’ retirement offering.  Funds must satisfy at least 14 out of the 20 criteria, with successful funds earning the ‘Epic Retirement Tick – powered by Chant West’.

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Bec Wilson

Chant West and the Epic Retirement Institute has announced the outcome of their new Epic Retirement Tick assessment, a first-of-its-kind framework for Australian super funds. Six super funds have earned the Tick:

• Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings
• Aware Super
• Brighter Super
• Hostplus
• Telstra Super, and
• UniSuper.

The retirement-readiness framework, developed in a partnership between Chant West and Bec Wilson’s Epic Retirement Institute, offers a consumer-focussed assessment against 18 key criteria, evaluating the range of services and support super funds offer to pre-retirees and retirees. It establishes a benchmark for best practice for super funds’ retirement offering to members.  Funds must satisfy at least 12 out of the 18 criteria, with successful funds earning the ‘Epic Retirement Tick – powered by Chant West’.

Chant West General Manager, Ian Fryer, said the initiative establishes a clear and easy-to-understand benchmark to help super fund members understand what ‘good’ looks like as they move towards retirement.

“Ultimately, we want as many Australians as possible to have access to the advice, products, tools and service that help them maximise their financial security in retirement,” Fryer said.

“We’re working closely with super funds to drive engagement and action to build strong retirement offerings for their members. This accreditation aims to create a practical framework for fund members to understand how their super fund can support them as they move towards retirement,” he said.

Author and founder of the Epic Retirement Institute, Bec Wilson, said “this report gives fund members a clear picture of how their fund stacks up against a robust set of criteria that reflect the realities of retirement in Australia today. It also sends a message to the funds themselves, showing them what matters most to their members. That’s really important – everyday Australians approaching retirement need to have a voice at the table, so they’re not invisible in the system that’s meant to serve them.

“At the time of this inaugural report, just six funds have qualified for the Tick. We need to see more, as Australians headed for retirement deserve better,” Wilson said.

“This is actually a huge opportunity for super funds. Funds that step up to deliver true retirement-ready services will not only win trust, they will set a new standard for how Australians experience retirement,” she said.

The Epic Retirement Tick criteria outline 18 key measures of a fund’s retirement readiness including investment options tailored to the pension phase, retirement income products, drawdown guidance, advice pathways, calculators and modelling tools, education and engagement strategies, and service delivery measures such as pension payment timeliness and call centre performance. Funds must meet the benchmark in at least 12 of the 18 criteria to be eligible for the Epic Retirement Tick in 2025-26. Criteria will be expanded in future years as the retirement landscape evolves.

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Mano Mohankumar and Ian Fryer

Super funds had an exceptional May with the median growth fund (61-to-80 per cent in growth assets) up 2.7 per cent over the month. And with markets up in June so far and less than two weeks of the financial year remaining, Chant West estimates that the median growth fund return for FY25 is sitting at about 9 per cent.

Senior Investment Research Manager, Mano Mohankumar, says that listed share markets, infrastructure and currency have been key contributors to the strong return for FY25 so far.

“Indeed, all major asset classes have delivered positive returns over the period. A final return close to 9 per cent would be an astonishing result in light of the volatility we’ve seen this past year. The FY25 experience highlights the importance of remaining patient and not getting distracted by short-term noise. President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcements rocked share markets in early April, but his subsequent pause on tariffs on most countries soon after resulted in a strong share market rally that continued into June. However, we’ve seen some risk-off sentiment in recent days due to escalating tensions in the Middle East,” Mohankumar said.

“This year’s result would follow the strong returns for FY23 and FY24 when growth options returned 9.2 per cent and 9.1 per cent, respectively. It would also represent the 14^th positive year out of the last 16. Most importantly, super funds continue to meet their long-term return and risk objectives,” he said.

For further context, Chart 1 plots the year-by-year performance of the median growth fund over the previous 32 full financial years since the introduction of compulsory super in July 1992, as well as the 2025 financial year-to-date return. Since the introduction of compulsory super, the median growth fund has returned 8 per cent p.a. The annual CPI increase over the same period was 2.7 per cent, giving a real return of 5.3 per cent p.a. – well above the typical 3.5 per cent target.

Even looking at the past 20 years, which includes three major share market downturns – the GFC in 2007-2009, COVID-19 in 2020, and the high inflation and rising interest rates in 2022 – super funds have returned 7.1 per cent p.a., which is still comfortably ahead of the typical objective.

“On the risk side, there have only been five negative years over the entire period, which translates to less than one year in every six. Again, funds have done better than their typical long-term risk objective which is one negative return in every five years, on average,” said Mohankumar.

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Aware Super was a strong contender across multiple categories, taking home four awards in total: Pension Fund of the Year, Best Fund: Member Services, Best Fund: Investments and Best Fund: Advice Services.

In the Chant West Award’s newest category, Best Fund: Digital Advice, Hostplus took home the inaugural gong in a highly competitive line-up of finalists which included CFS FirstChoice and Rest.

The other category winners were:

• Corporate Solutions Fund of the Year – Australian Retirement Trust
• Advised Product of the Year – AMP MyNorth
• Best Fund: Lifetime Product – AMP MyNorth Lifetime, for the second year in a row
• Best Fund: Innovation – AMP Super – Lifetime Feature
• Best Fund: MySuper Performance Outcomes – Hostplus
• Specialist Fund of the Year – HESTA

The Chant West Super Fund Awards recognise excellence across 14 award categories and showcase industry best practice to help drive continuous improvement across the super industry and ultimately improve member outcomes.

In explaining this year’s awards theme of ‘building a better retirement system’, Chant West general manager, Ian Fryer, said “Australia’s superannuation system is world-class when it comes to helping people grow their savings during their working lives. But retirement is a far more complex challenge and doing it well is significantly harder than accumulation. As an industry, we need to shift our focus and evolve from a superannuation system to a true retirement system.

“This year’s awards showcase those funds who are embracing the necessary innovation, critical thinking and change required to ensure more Australians enjoy a financially secure retirement,” Fryer said.

“The Chant West awards is a fantastic night on the industry calendar and every year I’m reminded how great it is to be part of an industry that’s making such an impact on improving retirement outcomes for Australians.”

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Mano Mohankumar and Ian Fryer

Super funds retreated in March with the median super fund (61 to 80% in growth assets) down 1.9% for the month, as share markets slid on the back of ongoing concerns around Trump’s tariffs and growing recessionary fears in the US. That brought the median return back to 5.5% over the first nine months of the 2024/25 financial year.

However, volatility has further escalated in April, with President Trump’s so called ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcements sending a shockwave through share markets and then a week later, a pause on some of these tariffs resulting in a market rally. Chant West estimates that the net effect of the rollercoaster experience in April so far is that the median growth fund is only down about 2%. This estimate could of course become stale quickly given some of the wild daily market movements.

Chant West Senior Investment Research Manager, Mano Mohankumar, says that with the heightened volatility we’re seeing in share markets, it’s critical that super fund members keep in mind that super is a long-term investment and there are going to be periods of market weakness through their super journey. “While we appreciate that members all have different tolerance levels for seeing their account balance going backwards, the majority can afford to remain patient, even many older members. A lot of Australians don’t take out all of their super as a lump sum at retirement, so a substantial amount is likely to remain the super system in the pension phase, often for many years. Their investment horizon is longer than they may think it is.

“When markets fall sharply, there is a tendency for some people to think about moving to lower-risk options or cash, with a view to moving back later, either out of fear or as an attempt to time the market. But far more often than not, that strategy results in a worse long-term outcome than if you stay the course. Not only do you convert paper losses into real ones, but you also risk missing part, or all of the subsequent market rebound.”

Mohankumar adds that super fund members need to also remember the power of diversification, which has returned to the fore in 2025. “Taking the full month of March as an example, we saw Australian shares retreated 3.3% over the month while international shares were down 5% and 4.7%, in hedged and unhedged terms, respectively. However, the median growth fund’s loss was limited to 1.9%, benefitting from diversification across a wide range of growth and defensive asset classes including alternative and unlisted assets. At the same time, growth funds still have about 55% invested in listed shares on average, and are able to capture a meaningful proportion of the upside when those markets perform strongly as we saw in CY23 and CY24, when the median growth fund returned 9.9% and 13.4%, respectively.

The table below compares the median performance to the end of March 2025 for each of the traditional diversified risk categories in Chant West’s Super Fund Performance Survey, ranging from All Growth to Conservative. All risk categories have generally met their typical long-term return objectives, which generally range from CPI + 1.5% for Conservative funds to CPI + 4.25% for All Growth.

Long-term performance remains above target

MySuper products have been operating for just over 11 years, so when considering performance, Mohankumar says it’s important to remember that super is a much longer-term proposition.

“Since the introduction of compulsory super in July 1992, the median growth fund has returned 8% p.a. The annual CPI increase over the same period is 2.6%, giving a real return of 5.4% p.a. – well above the typical 3.5% target. Even looking at the past 20 years, which includes three major share market downturns – the GFC in 2007-2009, COVID-19 in 2020, and the high inflation and rising interest rates in 2022 – super funds have returned 7.0% p.a., which is still comfortably ahead of the typical objective.”

The chart below shows that for most of the time, the median growth fund has exceeded its return objective over rolling 10-year periods, which is a commonly used timeframe consistent with the long-term focus of super. The exceptions are two periods between mid-2008 and late-2017, when it fell behind. This is because of the devastating impact of the 16-month GFC period (end-October 2007 to end-February 2009) during which growth funds lost about 26% on average.

By Mano Mohankumar, Senior Investment Research Manager and Ian Fryer, General Manager.

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Ian Fryer

Leading super fund research and ratings provider, Chant West, has launched a new ratings service that assesses the quality of lifetime products which pay super fund members an income for life.

The new ratings use unique criteria to assess the features, fees, investments and services provided, including criteria that compare the projected outcomes of each product with the account-based pensions.

A small number of super funds currently provide lifetime products but Chant West expects more will be released in the next two to three years, driven by strong encouragement from Treasury and the regulators.

Ian Fryer, Chant West General Manager, said that now is the right time to provide advisers with research on lifetime products that use criteria focussed on the reason why these products exist – to provide an income for life – and assess how well these products do just that.

“The assessment of these products has taken some time, as we needed to develop a robust projection model that dealt with the range of benefits and features provided. Our projection model enables us to assess how the outcomes provided through these products compare to an account-based pension, and also assess how well these products deliver lifetime income compared with other products,” Fryer said.

“There is an important focus on what the provider does to help super fund members access the product. This criteria differs depending on whether the product is primarily distributed through advisers (where we focus on services provided to advisers to use the lifetime product efficiently) or whether it is purchased by members from their fund without personal advice (where we focus on the guidance available and advice services provided by the fund to help members understand how these products work),” Fryer said.

While the lifetime product ratings is a new service, Chant West has been assessing these products for over 13 years as part of its annual Super Fund Awards, with a dedicated ‘Best Fund: Lifetime Product’ category.

The lifetime product research reports are available through group partner, Zenith Investment Partners’ Mosaic adviser portal as well as through each lifetime product provider.

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