CareSuper earns place among pension fund giants, ART breaks into top 20

Australian Retirement Trust (ART) has cracked the top 20 ranking of the world's largest pension funds, while CareSuper has debuted on WTW's annual Global Top 300 Pension Funds report.

This year's Thinking Ahead Institute and Pensions & Investments analysis, which assessed high-level trends in 2025, features 17 superannuation funds that are helping change the face of the world's major pension funds.

ART managed $352 billion (US$234bn) in retirement savings at the time, placing it the 19th spot.

AustralianSuper's $361 billion (US$260bn) assets make it the top-ranking Australian pension fund, inching one spot to 16th from the prior year's 17th placement.

Rest and HESTA, which each manage nearly $90 billion (US$65bn), both moved into the top 100, ranking 96th and 99th respectively.

The Future Fund ranked 25th, while Aware Super took the 37th spot.

CareSuper entered the top 300 following its merger with Spirit Super on 1 November 2024.

WTW senior director of investments Jonathan Grigg said all Australian funds included in the report rose in the rankings, with the exception of State Super, which primarily manages defined benefit assets and has a very different cash flow profile to most Australian funds which are primarily defined contribution.

"While DC assets globally grew significantly faster than defined benefits (DB) assets, this has increased the focus on how DC funds can support their members in retirement. This has been a key area of discussion in Australia over the past year, with both the Australian government and individual funds increasingly focused on delivering better outcomes for members in the retirement phase," he said.

Australia's share of the assets under management of the top 300 funds rose from 4.8% to 5.2% through a combination of strong returns, continued merger activity and the strengthening of the AUD.

Norway's Government Pension Fund sits at the top of the tree with $2.9 trillion (US$2.1tn), followed by Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund with $2.60 trillion (US$1.88tn)

Total assets under management in the top 300 funds increased by 13.4% in 2025, compared to an increase of 7.9% in 2024.

Thinking Ahead Institute director Jessica Gao said: "Scale and consolidation are among the defining industry themes of the moment. Not only are the largest funds getting larger, but organisations are also increasingly pursuing growth beyond traditional M&A through strategic partnerships, which provide access to additional expertise, technology and specialised capabilities."