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SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES

	Sep Qtr 2004	Jun Qtr 2005	Sep Qtr 2005
Consolidated Assets	$m	$m	$m
Superannuation funds	387 849	p449 756	p471 684
Life insurance offices(a)	176 370	188 070	191 426
Other managed funds	206 555	230 703	245 378
Total	770 774	p868 530	p908 487
p preliminary figure or series subject to revision
(a) Investments by superannuation funds which are held and administered by life insurance offices are included under life insurance offices.
See note on consolidation in Explanatory Notes, para 8

SEPTEMBER KEY POINTS


CONSOLIDATED ASSETS

• Total consolidated assets of managed funds institutions was $908.5b at 30 September 2005, an increase of $40.0b (4.6%) from the revised June quarter 2005 figure, reflecting changes in asset values during the quarter. During the September quarter 2005, the S&P/ASX 200 increased by 8.5%, the price of foreign shares (represented by the US S&P 500) increased by 3.1% and the $A depreciated slightly against the $US by 0.3%. Domestic bond prices fell during the quarter with the 5 year Treasury Bond yield decreasing by 3 percentage points to 5.16%.
• Consolidated assets of superannuation funds increased by $21.9b (4.9%), public unit trusts by $13.2b (7.4%), life insurance offices by $3.4b (1.8%), cash management trusts by $1.1b (2.9%) and common funds by $0.4b (3.9%). Friendly societies' consolidated assets decreased slightly (-0.3%).
• Investment managers had $882.9b in funds under management at 30 September 2005, up $46.0b (5.5%) from the revised June quarter 2005 figure. They managed $632.6b (69.6%) of consolidated managed funds' assets.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

From the June 1995 quarter until the December 2004 quarter, the ABS conducted a quarterly survey of superannuation funds which was used by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to compile "Superannuation Trends" and by the ABS to compile superannuation fund data in Managed Funds (ABS cat. no. 5655.0). From the December 2004 quarter, this data source was replaced by a new quarterly data collection conducted by APRA for super funds with assets greater than $50m, supplemented by estimates for other APRA regulated funds and estimates of self-managed funds regulated by the Australian Taxation Office.

The ABS has analysed the new APRA estimates and found that previous estimates for managed investments are too low, particularly in wholesale trusts. This finding is consistent with indications of a growing use of "investment platforms" (master trusts, wraps and similar products) by superannuation funds. Further analysis of funds not included in the APRA quarterly collection is still being conducted to establish the accuracy of their asset details.

For this reason, the ABS has decided to continue to publish estimates based on the old data source estimates to September 2004 and the new data source estimates from December 2004, with a series break at December 2004, pending completion of its analysis. As a result:

• the total series in table 3 (unconsolidated assets of superannuation funds) is consistent with estimates published by APRA published for December 2004, March 2005 and June 2005, after adjustment for assets held by life insurance companies;
• the asset detail of this aggregate is not expected to be published until the December quarter 2005 issue;
• a number of other aggregates dependent on superannuation fund aggregates have been noted as preliminary and subject to revision;
• in table 8 (investment managers, source of funds), a component of the December 2004, March 2005, June 2005 and September 2005 results for "other investment managers" has been re-classified to "superannuation funds" to ensure consistency with the APRA estimates.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Glen Malam on Canberra (02) 6252 5040.

ANALYSIS


CONSOLIDATED ASSETS

By type of institution

At 30 September 2005, consolidated assets of superannuation funds were $471.7b, up $21.9b (4.9%) since June 2005. Consolidated assets of public unit trusts, life insurance offices and cash management trusts experienced increases of $13.2b (7.4%), $3.4b (1.8%) and $1.1b (2.9%) respectively. Assets of friendly societies decreased slightly (-0.3%).

Cross investment

The table below presents the unconsolidated, cross-invested and consolidated assets of managed funds by type of fund as at 30 September 2005.

	Unconsolidated assets	Cross- invested assets	Consolidated assets
Type of fund	$m	$m	$m
Life insurance offices	228 516	37 090	191 426
Superannuation funds	627 236	155 552	471 684
Public unit trusts	224 638	31 467	193 171
Friendly societies	6 597	2 017	4 580
Common funds	10 360	354	10 006
Cash management trusts	37 621	-	37 621
Total	1 134 967	226 480	908 487
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

UNCONSOLIDATED ASSETS

Life insurance offices

At 30 September 2005, the total assets of life insurance offices were $228.5b, an increase of $8.1b (3.7%) since June 2005. Major increases occurred in equities and units in trusts of $8.8b (6%), short term securities of $0.6b (5%) and land and buildings of $0.5b (6%). There were decreases in long term securities of $1.9b (7%) and other financial assets of $0.2b (6%). Assets held overseas increased by $0.3b (2%).

Public unit trusts

The total assets for public unit trusts was $224.6b at 30 September 2005, up $18.5b (9%) from the revised June 2005 figure. The major increases were in land and buildings, up $2.9b (5%) and other non-financial assets, up $1.3b (13%). Other financial assets decreased by $1.3 (22%) and cash and deposits decreased by 0.2b (2%).

The value of funds under management on behalf of superannuation funds increased by $30.5b (10%), public unit trusts increased by $5.5b (6%), cash management trusts increased by $1.2b (4%), life insurance offices increased by $1.1b (1%) while common funds remained virtually the same.

During the quarter, the value of funds under management on behalf of sources other than managed funds increased by $5.5b (3%). Of this, the largest increase was funds under management on behalf of trusts other than public unit trusts, $10.7b (9%). Other investment managers decreased by $8.8b (30%).

The value of funds under management on behalf of overseas sources increased to $31.9b up $2.0b (7%) from the previous quarter.

The value of managed funds assets invested through investment managers was $632.6b at 30 September 2005, representing 69.6% of the consolidated assets of managed funds.