NAB Commences 12th Superannuation Survey

NAB has launched its latest Superannuation Insights Survey – the 12^th edition of the biennial survey that taps into the thinking of funds in what remains the fourth biggest superannuation pool in the world.

A theme of the survey is likely to be the increased internationalisation of Australia super fund investing, as assets under management continue to grow – it could be the third largest pool in the world by 2030 – so managers need to increasingly look offshore for investment opportunities. The survey will focus on asset allocation trends, governance and regulation, currency exposure in portfolio construction, emerging market currency risk, as well as how funds hedge their FX exposures.

Notably in the 2025 survey, NAB says there will be a stronger focus on liquidity management, which will get its own section for the first time, thanks to greater scrutiny on this element of business from regulators. The bank observes that in its last two Financial Stability Reviews, the Reserve Bank of Australia paid more attention to this aspect of funds’ businesses, in particular, the ever-increasing size of funds’ FX hedge books.

The 2023 survey covered the responses of 41 funds, this year NAB is expecting that number to rise to 50. It comes at an interesting time, and will probably provide the first in-depth look at how a significant section of the buy side is coping with the extremely volatile conditions we have witnessed thus far in 2025. The results will be published in September.