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# Consolidation and rise of the superannuation mega-funds
- URL: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/rise-australian-super-mega-funds/
- Published: 2026-09-11T21:00:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T21:00:34.000Z
- Description: Australia had 130 APRA-regulated super funds in June 2021. Five years later there are just 66, while member benefits have risen to $3.2 trillion and the top ten funds now control more than 60 per cent.
- Author: Nick Hossack
- Tags: #superannuation

Australia's superannuation industry is rapidly becoming an industry of mega-funds.

APRA's latest fund-level statistics show the number of regulated funds in the dataset has fallen from **130 in June 2021 to just 66 in June 2026** — almost exactly halving in five years.

But the money has moved in the opposite direction.

Member benefits increased from **$2.14 trillion to $3.20 trillion**, while the average amount of member benefits per fund almost tripled from **$16.5 billion to $48.4 billion**.

The largest funds are becoming particularly powerful institutions. AustralianSuper now has **$438 billion** in member benefits and Australian Retirement Trust $366 billion. Together they account for about a quarter of the market captured by these statistics.

The top five funds now hold **42.8 per cent** of member benefits, up from 32.0 per cent in 2021\. The top ten control **60.5 per cent**.

There are good reasons for consolidation. Larger funds can spread administration, technology and compliance costs across millions of members and have greater bargaining power when purchasing investment-management services.

But scale also changes the structure of Australia's financial sector.

Trustee boards overseeing hundreds of billions of dollars make increasingly consequential decisions about which asset managers receive mandates, which infrastructure and private-market assets receive capital, which technology providers are selected and which professional advisers are engaged.

For asset managers, winning or losing one mega-fund mandate can therefore matter enormously. For investment consultants, financial advisers, lawyers, technology companies and other advisory businesses, there are also fewer — but much larger — institutional clients.

That makes expertise important, but also **professional connectivity**. Firms wanting to participate in Australia's growing superannuation system increasingly need strong relationships, reputations and networks inside a relatively small number of very large funds.

Australia has not simply consolidated its super industry.

It has created a new class of extremely powerful financial institutions.

The rise of Australia's super mega-funds 

APRA-regulated funds in the Quarterly Fund-Level Statistics 

| Funds 130 → 66 −49% | Member benefits $3.20tn +49% | Top 5 share 42.8% 32.0% in 2021 | Top 10 share 60.5% 51.4% in 2021 |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |

Five years of consolidation 

| Measure                   | June 2021 | June 2026 | Change |
| ------------------------- | --------- | --------- | ------ |
| Number of funds           | 130       | 66        | −49%   |
| Member benefits           | $2.14tn   | $3.20tn   | +49%   |
| Average benefits per fund | $16.5bn   | $48.4bn   | +194%  |

Australia's largest super funds — June 2026 

| Fund                                    | Member benefits | Share |
| --------------------------------------- | --------------- | ----- |
| **1\. AustralianSuper**                 | **$437.8bn**    | 13.7% |
| **2\. Australian Retirement Trust**     | **$366.4bn**    | 11.5% |
| 3\. Aware Super                         | $246.2bn        | 7.7%  |
| 4\. UniSuper                            | $161.2bn        | 5.0%  |
| 5\. HOSTPLUS                            | $156.9bn        | 4.9%  |
| 6\. Public Sector Superannuation Scheme | $120.0bn        | 3.8%  |
| 7\. CFS FirstChoice                     | $115.4bn        | 3.6%  |
| 8\. REST                                | $112.1bn        | 3.5%  |
| 9\. Cbus                                | $111.8bn        | 3.5%  |
| 10\. HESTA                              | $106.4bn        | 3.3%  |
| Top 10 combined                         | $1.93tn         | 60.5% |

Source: APRA Quarterly Fund-Level Statistics, June 2026\. Benchmark Analytics calculations. Member benefits are used for fund-level comparisons and differ from APRA's broader measure of total fund assets.