Kinetic Super has defended its cost structure from analysis which shows it having the highest operational costs of all superannuation funds as a proportion of member assets.

Megan Bolton, chief executive of the super fund for whom many members do contract work and often accrue small member balances, says costs have come down by a quarter since the data provided to APRA was published in 2013.

A table published on the Bridge website shows Kinetic Super as having the highest operational costs per member assets at 2.10 per cent, while the industry average is 0.56 per cent.

Bolton added that Kinetic is continuing to make progress in reducing costs and increasing value to members.

She cited the lowering of weekly administration fees by 10.5 per cent from 1 July this year, delivering top quartile investment performance for the Kinetic Super MySuper option over five years, delivering one of the best value default insurance offerings in the market and low investment fees as evidence.

She also pointed towards Bridge analysis which shows Kinetic Super costs per member, rather than costs per member assets is only $142 per annum, compared to the industry fund median of $170 pa.

Ian Fryer, head of research at Chant West, said APRA data on fees should not be used uncritically, as funds’ disclosure is not always consistent and the level of assets may have some impact on costs.

“Given most non-investment expenses are much more related to numbers of members than level of assets, [a cost per member measurement] would be a better measure to compare costs between funds,” he said.

He also highlighted Kinetic Super’s MySuper option as being ranked in the top 5 funds in Chant West’s growth option survey (ie 61-80 per cent growth assets) for the five years to  July 31, 2014.