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Fat cats ‘dragging their feet’ on super

UNDER-PERFORMING superannuation funds are getting bigger and fatter, according to analysis of Australia’s “fat cat” fund managers.

AMP dominates as the biggest fat cat fund manager.

The Commonwealth Bank also increased its ranking, from fourth to third biggest fat cat this year.

According to the fifth annual analysis by investment serviAUSTRALIA’S ces provider Stockspot, there were 521 fat cat funds at June this year – last year there were 638. The research into more than 4000 funds defines a fat cat as a fund under-performing its peer group by more than 10 per cent during the past one-, three- and five-year periods.

Ranked by the number of fat cat funds, ANZ topped the list with 218, followed by AMP at 87, the CBA at 47, Westpac at 41 and Zurich at 19.

When ranked by the amount of customers’ money in the funds, AMP dominated with $12.9 billion, followed by Westpac at $5.6 billion and ANZ at $4.8 billion.

“It’s incredible that the worst offenders, the banks, still drag their feet on helping customers avoid high super fund fees,” Stockspot chief Chris Brycki (pictured) said. healthcare companies are the true stars of the stockmarket, outperforming popular sectors such as mining and banking over the long term, according to a new study.

And Australian health stocks also outshine the global healthcare sector, which itself is a star performer – outpaced only by the burgeoning technology industry in recent years, according to analysts at investment bank UBS.

In a report for investors, David Cassidy and Dean Dusanic say healthcare is the “long-term standout” on the Australian Securities Exchange across five, 10 and 20-year time frames.

“Healthcare stands out as the best performing Australian sector by a wide margin,’’ the report says.

It forecasts growth in earnings per share of 10 per cent in coming years. But the analysts caution that risks attached to the sector are growing amid a rapid run up in stock prices.

Major companies in the ASX 200 healthcare sector include blood products and vaccines group CSL, hospital operators Ramsay Health Care and Healthscope, and bionic ear maker Cochlear.