Aware Super is an Australian

industry superannuation fund An industry superannuation fund (or, simply, 'industry fund') are Australian superannuation funds that historically were established by Australian trade unions to manage retirement savings for workers in their industry. Funds other than industry ...

headquartered in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. With $176.9 billion under management and 1.15 million members, it is Australia's third-largest superannuation fund.

History

It was initially established in 1992 as First State Super to provide superannuation benefits to

government employees. First State Super became a public offer fund on 1 May 2006, opening up membership to anyone eligible to receive superannuation benefits. This was in response to feedback from existing members who were keen to remain with the fund when they changed jobs and moved from the public to the private sector. The change meant First State Super became included in comparisons of performance, fees and other features with other funds. In 2012, First State Super merged with Health Super, a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

superannuation fund for workers in the

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

and

community services Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

sector. At the time the merger meant the combined entity was the third largest superannuation fund in Australia. In 2016, First State Super acquired StatePlus for $1.1bn to boost its advice offering. In 2020 it was reported the asset had under-performed, losing nearly $400m and been affected by a fee-for-no-service scandal which prompted an

ASIC An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...

referral. On 1 July 2020, First State Super and VicSuper merged to become Aware Super. Shortly after rebranding as Aware Super in 2020, it undertook a mass divestment that reduced the

carbon footprint A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country Greenhouse gas emissions, adds to the atmospher ...

of its holdings in equities by 40%. On 3 December 2020, WA Super merged with Aware Super. In April 2023, Aware Super acquired a 22 per cent shareholder in Get Living, the built-to-rent developer that owns East Village, London. It acquired the holding from the

Qatar Investment Authority The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA; ) is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes. In November 2024, the QIA had an estimated $526 ...

. In November 2023, Aware Super opened its first international office in London to further its direct investments in real estate, infrastructure and private equity in the UK and Europe.

Current Ratings and Awards

* 2024 – Chant West: Super Fund of the Year, Pension Fund of the Year, Best Fund for Investments, Best Fund for Insurance * 2024 – Finder Awards: Provider of the Year, Best Low Fee Super Fund, Best Conservative Super Fund * 2024 – SuperRatings: Retirement Offering of the Year 2024, Aware Super Retirement Income * 2025 – Chant West 5 Apples super rating; Aware Super Future Saver * 2025 – SuperRatings: Super Fund of the Year, Best Digital Offering, Smooth Ride award, MyChoice Super of the Year * 2025 – Money Magazine: Ultra Long-Term Performance award

Controversy

In September/October 2011, a security vulnerability in First State Super's system was discovered by a customer. First State Super received considerable negative publicity nationally and internationally, both for the severity of and ease of compromise of the exploit, and also for the actions and public relations that occurred in the aftermath of the notification. The Federal Privacy Commissioner investigated the event. On 7 June 2012, the Privacy Commissioner found that at the time of the incident, First State Super was in breach of National Privacy Principal 4.1. As a result of First State Super and Pillar's immediate action, the Commissioner ceased the investigation and closed his file on the matter on the basis that the response to the incident was adequate in the circumstances.

References

External links

Aware Super – Official website
{{Authority control Superannuation funds in Australia Financial services companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in Australia

History

Current Ratings and Awards

Controversy

See also

References

External links