Deposit-taking institutions are paying the trustees of self-managed superannuation funds 32 basis points less than they pay their retail customers for deposits.In a ratings report on SMSF savings accounts issued last week, researcher Canstar said the average base rate for high-yield SMSF savings accounts was 2.61 per cent, compared with 2.93 per cent for retail savings accounts.When short-term promotional offers and bonus rates are taken into account, SMSF accounts do slightly better, at 3.15 per cent versus 3.13 per cent.SMSF trustees may be getting a raw deal now but the discrepancy has been greater in the recent past. When Canstar did its first SMSF savings account ratings 12 months ago the average base rate for an SMSF savings account was 3.54 per cent, compared with 4.09 per cent for a retail savings account.Canstar rated 141 SMSF savings accounts and gave 12 institutions top scores (five stars). These are the Australian Defence Credit Union, Bankstown City Credit Union, Bank of Queensland, Defence Bank, FCCS Credit Union, IMB, ING Direct, Newcastle Permanent, Qantas Staff Credit Union, RaboDirect, St George Bank and UBank.Canstar's head of research, Chris Groth, said the scoring was skewed to accounts that had a history of high rates.One sign of the times is that only 43 of the 141 accounts - less than a third - offer cheque books.