However, the self-managed super fund quarterly statistical report from the Australian Taxation Office showed there was a slight improvement year-on-year with fewer wind-ups despite a drop in SMSF establishments.
The APRA report revealed that for the December 2022 quarter, superannuation assets totalled around $3.4 trillion at the end of December 2022, a 3.0 per cent decrease in value over the past year. This reflected volatility in financial markets following aggressive monetary tightening by global central banks to curb inflation, which slowed economic growth.
Contributions totalled $154.4 billion over the year, an increase of 11.0 per cent from the previous year. Employer contributions increased by 11.8 per cent over the year to $114.9 billion, likely supported by the Superannuation Guarantee increase to 10.5 per cent per annum from 1 July 2022 and the declining unemployment rate over 2022 to historically low levels. Member contributions increased by 8.6 per cent over the year to $39.5 billion.
Benefit payments totalled $91.6 billion, increasing 11.3 per cent over the year. Of this, lump sum payments totalled $50.2 billion, an increase of 17.6 per cent over the year, and pension payments totalled $41.3 billion over the year, an increase of 4.5 per cent. Both increases are in line with longer term trends due to a maturing superannuation system and ageing population.
The ATO report showed in December 2022 there were only 173 wind-ups compared to 1,202 for December 2021.
In also revealed that there was a decrease in the number of established from 7,549 in December 2021 to 5,837 in December 2022.
More SMSF funds were established in NSW than any other state (33.3%) followed by Victoria (27%) and Queensland (19%), and new funds were being established by a relatively equal number of men and women in the 35 to 44-year age bracket with an income of between $100,000 to $150,000.
The total number of SMSF accounts in the December quarter totalled 602,883 up from 587,029 the year previously, with total members rising from 1,100,753 (December 2021) to 1,131,124 in 2022.
