Investment in the U.S. economy by Australia’s $2.6 trillion — and growing — super fund industry is set to top $1 trillion over the next 10 years, more than doubling from current figures.
A report commissioned by Australian super-owned infrastructure specialist IFM Investors, based on analysis from the Super Members Council and Australia-based economics, strategy and policy consulting firm Mandala, shows that investment by Australian funds in the U.S. is expected to more than double from about $400 billion. That projection includes about $300 billion of new allocations.
The figures were reiterated in a news release by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and by Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, speaking at this week's "Super Summit." The Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Consulate-General Heather Ridout in New York are hosting the event to showcase the country’s retirement savings and its investments in the U.S.
Australia's retirement market is forecast to grow to more than $7 trillion by 2040.
Over the coming days, a group of Australia’s largest super funds, along with associations representing them and asset managers, are meeting with members of the Trump administration, governors and congressional representatives from California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and Tennessee. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman has already met with Chalmers, Bloomberg reported.
The summit started in Washington, D.C., on Feb 24 and 25 and will conclude in New York on Feb. 26 and 27. Australian financial services firm Macquarie Group, which works with 18 of Australia’s top 20 super funds, is sponsoring the event, the release added.
The summit followed a call between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 10, when the scale of Australian supers’ investment in the U.S. was a topic of discussion, the release said.
Chalmers addressed the summit, which he said was “about stronger returns and stronger economic ties between two great countries,” according to a transcript of his speech published on Feb. 25. He highlighted that super fund representatives at the summit manage almost $1 trillion collectively.
“So together, you represent very substantial investment opportunities,” Chalmers said, with the potential for collaboration “on capital flows towards roads and bridges, energy infrastructure and data centers.”
Chalmers also addressed the “economic partnership” that he said “is mutually beneficial and has never been more critical.” He noted that his country has imposed no tariffs on U.S. imports, and that Australia “can supply 36 of the 50 minerals the United States lists as critical — for advanced technology and defense.”
And while Australia is already one of the U.S.’s top 10 foreign investors, “we have trillions of patient, friendly pension capital ready to invest in the new opportunities that lie before us,” he said.
Australian supers have a role to play in “investing in deep and liquid U.S. equity markets” and directly in infrastructure.
Chalmers also pitched Australia as “a financial center for the Indo-Pacific,” given its talent, financial infrastructure and institutional capabilities to efficiently mobilize capital.
The delegation also heard from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bessent gave "a glowing endorsement of Australia's 'fantastic' super system" at the summit, according to a Feb. 26 news release by the Super Members Council.
The SMC's release also said that a separate meeting of super funds and officials at the International Monetary Fund discussed the economic outlook and financial stability, as well as the super system's "world-leading transparency, including of private asset valuations, its stable cash flow and liquidity management capability."
