Partial withdrawal remediation

Frequently Asked Questions

Understanding your payment

  • Why have I received, or why will I be receiving, a payment?

    You made one or more partial withdrawals from your AustralianSuper account between November 2016 and March 2022 using a form that had incorrect information on how your withdrawal would be processed.

    The form asked members requesting to withdraw part of their account balance to select the percentage of their withdrawal to be taken from each of their investment options. The form said that if a selection wasn’t made the withdrawal would be made equally across all the member’s current investment options. This didn’t reflect what happens in practice. If a selection isn’t made, a withdrawal is taken from the member’s investment options based on their future contribution investment choice(s). If an investment option is exhausted with this approach, the remainder of the withdrawal is drawn proportionately from the member’s remaining investment options.

    Based on our calculations, some members who had their partial payment(s) withdrawn in line with their future contributions would have been better off if their withdrawal(s) had instead been processed in line with their current investment options, as described in the form. These members have received, or will receive, a payment for the investment returns they missed out on. For further information on how the payment was calculated please see the relevant sections below:

    Below are some examples of how your partial withdrawal was deducted from your future contributions. These examples are not based on a particular member’s circumstances and are for illustrative purposes only.

    Example 1

    On 1 November 2017 Sam requested to withdraw a partial payment of $10,000 from his AustralianSuper account. Sam didn’t select a percentage to withdraw from each of his investment options when completing the form. The form said that if Sam didn’t make a percentage selection, his partial payment would be drawn equally from across his current investment options. This did not happen. Instead, the partial payment of $10,000 was withdrawn in line with how Sam’s future contributions were invested.

    Sam’s account balance by investment option before the partial withdrawal was requested:

    Investment Option Account Balance ($) Percentage Split (%)
    High Growth 50,000 31
    Balanced 60,000 38
    Australian Shares 20,000 12
    Cash 30,000 19

    How Sam’s future contributions were invested:

    Investment Option Percentage Split (%)
    High Growth 60
    Balanced 40

    How Sam’s partial withdrawal was drawn:

    Investment Option Account ($) Percentage Split (%)
    High Growth 6,000 60
    Balanced 4,000 40

    Example 2

    On 1 November 2017 Sam requested to withdraw a partial payment of $60,000 from his AustralianSuper account. Sam didn’t select a percentage to withdraw from each of his investment options when completing the form. The form said that if Sam didn’t make a percentage selection, his partial payment would be drawn equally from across his current investment options. This did not happen. Instead, the partial payment of $60,000 was withdrawn in line with how Sam’s future contributions were invested. This resulted in the exhaustion (the reduction to $0) of one of those investment choices. This meant that the remainder of the withdrawal was then drawn proportionately from Sam’s remaining investment options.

    Sam’s account balance by investment option before the partial withdrawal:

    Investment Option Account Balance ($) Percentage Split (%)
    High Growth 50,000 31
    Balanced 60,000 38
    Australian Shares 20,000 12
    Cash 30,000 19

    How Sam’s future contributions were invested:

    Investment Option Percentage Split (%)
    High Growth 90
    Balanced 10

    There are two parts to how Sam’s $60,000 partial payment was drawn:

    Part 1: Sam’s partial payment was drawn in line with his future contribution investment choices. This resulted in the exhaustion (the reduction to $0) of the High Growth option of his future contribution investment choices.

    Investment Option Account balance ($) Future contributions investment split (%) Part 1: $60,000 drawn as per future contribution split Actual draw from each future contribution
    High Growth 50,000 90 54,000 50,000
    Balanced 60,000 10 6,000 6,000
    Australian Shares 20,000 0 0 0
    Cash 30,000 0 0 0
      Total 60,000 56,000

    The future contribution investment split is 90% High Growth and 10% Balanced. 90% of $60,000 is $54,000. As the High Growth account balance was $50,000, there wasn’t $54,000 available in this option to withdraw the full 90% of the partial withdrawal. The most that could be withdrawn from Sam’s High Growth option was $50,000. The remaining $4,000 needed to be deducted from Sam’s remaining investment options.

    Part 2: The remaining $4,000 was drawn proportionately from Sam’s other investment options:

    Investment Option Remaining account balance Resulting percentage split of account balance Part 2: Remaining amount was drawn down in proportion to the account balance
    High Growth 0.00 0  
    Balanced 54,000 52% 2,076.92
    Australian Shares 20,000 19% 769.23
    Cash 30,000 29% 1153.85
    Total 4,000

    After withdrawing the maximum amount available in High Growth, Sam’s account balance was invested in the following proportions: 52% Balanced, 19% Australian Shares and 29% Cash. To complete the $60,000 partial payment, the remaining $4,000 was drawn in proportion to the remaining investment options.

Concessional contributions and investment

Receiving my payment

Deceased estates

Advice options

Complaint

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