Superannuation funds have posted their worst performance since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008 as the eurozone’s debt problems cut returns from capital markets.

The fall in super valuations this year will be the second time in four years that pension funds have lost money although the downturn is not as drastic as it was in 2008.

Research firm Chant West estimates that the average fund will have shrunk in value by around two per cent by the end of calendar 2011.

By contrast in 2008, funds lost an average of 21.5 per cent, according to Chant West data.

Chant West investment research manager Mano Mohankumar said that even after a 15.1 per cent rise in 2009 and 4.7 per cent return in 2010, many funds “still have some ground to make up”.

The latest data is based on 60 funds with balanced portfolios – typically around 30 per cent in Australian equities and 26 per cent overseas equities.

Mr Mohankumar said market volatility had eaten into workers’ investments and that this was likely to continue in 2012 as European leaders grappled with the fallout of the eurozone debt crisis.

“We expect the heightened uncertainty to continue over the next 12 months,” he said.

“We think the European situation will take longer to resolve than the markets hope it will.”

The Chant West data found that the median industry fund will have lost around 0.6 per cent in 2011, compared with a 2.9 per cent loss in retail schemes due to their greater exposure to equities markets.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index has fallen 14.2 per cent from the beginning of the year as the escalating debt crisis in Europe and knock-on weakness in Asia and the US have spooked investors.