SUMMARY
- S&P Dow Jones Indices has been the de facto scorekeeper of the ongoing active versus passive debate since the first publication of the SPIVA U.S. Scorecard in 2002. Over the past 20 years, we have built on our experience publishing the report by expanding scorecard coverage into Australia, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, Latin America, South Africa, and the MENA region.
- The SPIVA Australia Scorecard reports on the performance of Australian active funds against their respective benchmark indices over different time periods. In this scorecard, we evaluate the returns of Australian large-cap equity funds, Australian mid-small cap equity funds, international equity funds, Australian bond funds, and Australian A-REIT funds.
- In 2021, more than one-half of the funds in the Australian Equity General and Australian Equity Mid- and Small-Cap categories beat their respective benchmarks, though the majority of funds in the International Equity General, Australian Bonds, and Australian Equity A-REIT categories recorded smaller returns than their respective benchmarks.
- There is no consistent trend in the yearly active versus index figures, but we have consistently observed underperformance for the majority of Australian active funds in most categories over the longer periods. Over the 5- and 10-year periods, the majority of active funds underperformed their respective benchmark indices across categories.
- Active funds from all categories recorded aggregated liquidation rates of 25.5% and 40.9% for the 5- and 10-year periods, respectively. Australian Bonds funds had the lowest liquidation rates among all fund categories in those periods.
