Australia's largest super fund plans to reduce fees to its 2 million members, in potentially a pre-emptive move before the release of the final Murray Inquiry this week.
The report is expected to recommend sweeping reforms to the financial system, including a crackdown on fees, after revelations that Australian superannuation charges are among the highest in the world.
Ian Silk, the chief executive of Australian Super – which has $80 billion in funds under management – said the fund had been progressively lowering fees as it brought more investment management expertise in house, and it planned to do more.
"They're [fees] as low as we can make them at the moment," he said
"The next step for us to reduce fees is to bring investment management in house and in four or five years' time we will have about a third of the portfolio management internally."
Research by Chant West has discovered AMP Super Direction, BT Business Super and MLC Business Super are among the funds that charge the highest fees.
Experts say fees charged for a combination of administration and investment management, which are higher than 1 per cent of the total of a person's retirement savings, are considered higher than average.
Australian Super, Telstra Super and Sun Super are rated as having some of the best-performing funds but their fees are not considered low by industry standards.
But Chant West director Warren Chant said in these examples, members were getting a good return on their investment.
"It's a much bigger effort to invest a billion dollars in a port or an airport than it is to invest a billion dollars in the ASX 300," he said. "There's a lot more research that has to go into it and a lot more skill has to go into it as they do tend to be more-expensive assets to invest in."
Australia's superannuation pool is expected to grow from $1.87 billion to more than $3 trillion in the next decade. But fees are high by global standards, according to research by the Grattan Institute.
Debate has been raging over whether some funds have become too fat and lazy to pass the benefits of size on to members.
Mr Silk said: "Fees vary widely across the system. There are some funds that charge very modest fees like Australian Super and non-investment fees are $1.50 per week – that's half a cup of coffee."
But when it comes to super fees, that half a cup of coffee each week is complicated.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group global wealth chief executive Joyce Phillips said: "There's a lot of confusion about how fees are disclosed. You have to look at the benchmark. If you're paying significantly higher than 1 per cent you should probably understand why that is and determine whether the benefit is appropriate to some other options."
