The organisation released its first Choice Heatmap, which covers products in which people have made an active decision to invest while the MySuper heatmap related to default “no frills’’ funds.

In aggregate, the two heatmaps cover 60 per cent of member benefits in the APRA-regulated superannuation sector. 

It found 45 per cent of MySuper products delivered returns below APRA’s heatmap benchmarks and investment returns were the primary driver of underperformance.

It also found fees and costs for MySuper products were declining, but there remains considerable scope for further reductions.

The Choice Heatmap showed 60 per cent of investment options returned below APRA’s heatmap benchmarks over seven years, with over 25 per cent of options delivering significantly poor returns.

It found the performance of Choice products varied considerably more than MySuper products and fees and costs of choice products were considerably higher than MySuper products, without obvious benefit in financial outcomes for members.

APRA executive board member Margaret Cole said the organisation would intensify its supervision on the trustees of products that had been shown up on the heatmaps as delivering sub-standard member outcomes.

“Superannuation members deserve confidence that their retirement savings are being well-looked after, regardless of what type of fund or product their money is invested in,’’ Cole said.

“Although there have been benefits generated for members from industry consolidation and reductions in fees in recent years, these heatmaps show there remains considerable room for improvement in member outcomes.

“In particular, a sizable proportion of the choice sector has been exposed for delivering poor outcomes, especially considering these products generally charge higher fees than their MySuper equivalents,” Ms Cole said.