Investment market wrap-up for 2022:
31 December 2022 investment update

Posted 2 February 2023

A challenging year for returns

2022 was a challenging and volatile year in investment markets categorised by geopolitical issues, high inflation and subsequent surging interest rates, leading to both share markets and fixed interest markets losing value.

How our fund performed

This resulted in the majority of Australian super funds experiencing negative returns over the 12 month period, with the median return of default MySuper options over this period being -4.75%¹. Our Balanced MySuper option performed in line with the industry at -4.27%.

Looking at the December 2022 quarter, these same market factors drove performance and volatility as they had all year. However, market expectations of a slowdown in future interest rate rises, in particular early on in the quarter, led to positive returns across all our fund’s major asset classes for the 3-month period.

However, this was still insufficient to lift our investment option returns to positive territory for the 12-month period, with all our options posting negative returns except for the Cash option. This level of performance was common across the super industry, with many funds reporting similar volatility¹.

Our Balanced option returns as at 31 December 2022

Returns	Accumulate Plus – (MySuper)	Retirement Access – Account-based Pension (ABP)	Retirement Access – Transition to Retirement Income Stream (TRIS)
Quarter (%)	3.55	3.62	3.11
1 year (%)	-4.27	-4.81	-4.26
5 year (% pa)	4.06	4.45	3.94
10 year (% pa)	6.07	6.78	n/a

For details of all our investment options’ performance to 31 December 2022, visit our investment returns page.

Looking ahead in 2023

We expect volatility to continue in 2023, as markets focus on whether inflation has peaked and the ensuing central bank actions to control it through continued rate hikes.

This uncertain economic backdrop looks to heavily influence household sentiment, which may then flow through to company earnings and share price. To add to this, continuing fears of a recession in some global markets, especially with Europe facing the brunt of the energy crisis due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, continues to heighten investment market volatility.

We believe our approach to a well-diversified portfolio, including investments in Alternatives and Real Assets, helps to protect, smooth and grow our members’ retirement savings over the long term.

1 Information published by SuperRatings Pty Ltd ABN 95 100 192 283, AFSL 311880 as part of its monthly Fund Crediting Rate Survey (FCRS). For the year ended 31 December 2022 quarter, 45 of 46 MySuper options posted negative returns within the SR50 MySuper Index.

This article was issued on 2 February 2023 by Commonwealth Bank Officers Superannuation Corporation Pty Limited (the trustee) (ABN 76 074 519 798, AFSL 246418), the trustee of Commonwealth Bank Group Super (the fund) (ABN 24 248 426 878). Past investment performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. This document may include general advice but does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. When assessing whether the information is appropriate for you, please consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Reference Guides available from our website oursuperfund.com.au/pds. You should also consider seeking professional financial advice before finalising any decisions that may affect your financial future.