KiwiSaver

Members of the Mercer Super Trust KiwiSaver scheme can now choose to invest in the AMP Capital Responsible Investment Leaders Balanced Fund, with Mercer adding the RI investment option in response to growing demand.

Martin Lewington, Head of Mercer in New Zealand said Mercer made the move to add the RI option to its investment platform in response to feedback from its members.

“We conducted a survey of members late in 2008 which revealed that 81 per cent considered it important to have a responsible investment option.

“In New Zealand responsible investing has been on the radar for some time, but in the wake of the global financial crisis many are taking greater reassurance in the knowledge that the environmental, social and governance factors, which may impact positively upon long-term returns, have been considered,” he said.

Lewington said Mercer joins a pool of very few KiwiSaver schemes to offer a balanced investment option that also takes into account social and environmental investment factors.

“Mercer thought it important to offer members a balanced investment option, which has a medium risk profile, for their Responsible Investment option, given the large appetite for more conservative investment options in the current environment.”

Lewington said Mercer decided to partner with AMP Capital Investors to provide a Responsible Investment option in order to provide a cost-effective option for members, provided by a leader in Responsible Investment.

“Mercer and AMP Capital Investors are both leaders in the Responsible Investment field and working together is a natural fit. AMP Capital Investors has assembled a very experienced team of responsible investment practitioners to join their Responsible Investment committee, including a Mercer representative, to oversee the investments and we have confidence that they can deliver strong investment performance over the long term,” said Lewington.

“Members will also benefit from investment management fees which are comparably cheaper than what many of our competitors are offering for their Responsible Investment funds,” he said.

He added that Mercer was the first investment consultant to establish a specialist global Responsible Investment business unit and played a major role in developing the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment.

Mercer also provides various investment managers, such as AMP Capital Investors, with research tools and advice to assess the environmental, governance and social factors within investment portfolios.

The AMP Capital Responsible Investment Leaders Balanced Fund will invest in funds or through investment managers who can demonstrate they have a system for taking Responsible Investment into account. It will also exclude investments in companies with significant involvement in the product or manufacture of activities with a high negative social impact.

 

In the first significant KiwiSaver consolidation since the superannuation scheme began, IRIS and Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver have announced they are teaming up to provide the IRIS-GMK scheme.

IRIS, the trade union associated KiwiSaver provider, announced today that it is consolidating with Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver to deliver union members and their families access to an established and well-performing KiwiSaver scheme.

Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver Director Gareth Morgan says GMK is excited about reaching an agreement with IRIS.

“This is a great opportunity to put a version of the Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver Scheme in front of union members and their immediate families.”

National Distribution Union national secretary, Laila Harre, says the move will advantage union members who are saving for their retirement.

“With this consolidation our members have the opportunity to access a large KiwiSaver scheme while being secure in the knowledge that it is a New Zealand business that is run on principles that align with those of IRIS.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary, Andrew Little, agrees.

“GMK was chosen by IRIS for this consolidation because it was consistent with the objectives of the original IRIS product which were personal service for members, a simple fee structure and no commissioned sales.”

IRIS-GMK will be the branded version of the Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver Scheme, and unions and the GMK team will work together in marketing IRIS-GMK to union members and their immediate families.

Existing IRIS KiwiSaver members are being notified of the changes and will be invited to transfer to IRIS-GMK.

Nearly half of private investors have now joined KiwiSaver with a further 22% intending to join in the next quarter, a survey from ING says.

Well over half of private New Zealand investors will be KiwiSavers by June, according to results from the recent ING Investor Dashboard Sentiment survey. As of March, 49% of high net worth New Zealand investors had joined, and a further 22% said they intended to join.

This figure is up from 15% who indicated they intended to join last quarter. This popularity of KiwiSaver is consistent with a FundSource report released yesterday, showing that KiwiSaver net funds under management, which reached $2.27 billion in March 2009, now represent about 15% of the total FundSource reported retail net funds under management, currently standing at $15.31 billion.

ING head of KiwiSaver distribution, David Boyle says, “The changes to the scheme introduced by the government this month will potentially encourage more people to join, even during the economic downturn. Since people are now feeling less willing to spend and more willing to start saving. Lowering the minimum contribution rate to 2% may well regenerate interest from those who previously saw the 4% contribution level as a barrier�.

However, FundSource also reported that the majority of people enrolled in KiwiSaver have their contributions allocated to conservative funds, purely because most people are in default schemes which automatically select conservative funds.

The ING KiwiSaver (default scheme) numbers are consistent with this, with 96% of investors in the conservative fund.

“Conservative funds may well be the best option for the older KiwiSaver and for the naturally cautious investor, especially during times of market turmoil. However, over the average duration of lifetime savings of 20 years, conservative funds have not historically delivered the best returns available. Ultimately, conservative funds may not provide the level of savings people would require to live well in retirement,â€? Boyle says.

“In the case of KiwiSaver, the investment remains locked in until members reach superannuation age of 65, so for those people at the beginning or in the middle of their working life there is a long way to go before they reach retirement. Unfortunately, if an investor selects a growth fund early and does not change this later, then if there is a large downward price movement and the investor is closer to retirement, the losses have a greater impact. This is exactly why ING includes the Lifetimes option for KiwiSavers so that as you move closer to retirement your contributions are allocated into more conservative and cash preservation funds.�

The Lifetimes Option places investors in a fund according to their age, and then moves investors as they reach milestone birthdays. This choice is designed to deliver the appropriate level of growth for an investor’s savings according to his or her age, thereby protecting and building investors’ savings over the average 20 year investment term.

Although the popularity of the scheme continues to exceed expectations, with more than one million New Zealanders now enrolled, there still remains a good number of New Zealanders yet to enrol with KiwiSaver. Only 27% of people under 65 who are eligible have joined the scheme.

“This is a good time to join KiwiSaver since the current benefits of the scheme – the government $1,000 kick-start, the members’ tax credit and 2% employer contributions – all add significantly to your own salary contributions. For those who are already enrolled now is also a good time to talk to an adviser about the composition of your fund,� adds Boyle. “The first million member mark was reached well ahead of schedule.

“I’m very pleased that New Zealanders are readily adopting a savings habit for retirement. KiwiSaver is transforming the nation’s attitude to savings and the investor landscape. While the scheme has proved far more popular than anticipated, there is still a long way to go before everyone who is eligible to take advantage of the scheme has actually enrolled.�

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Default Options
Multisector
– Conservative
– Moderate
– Balanced
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– Aggressive
Single Sector Options
– Cash
– Fixed Income
– Property
– Australasian Equity
– International Equity
– Miscellaneous

KiwiSaver Performance Survey – Returns to 31 March 2009
Default Options	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AMP KiwiSaver Default Fund	AMP	0.36	-1.45	1.91
ASB KiwiSaver Conservative Fund (Default)	ASB	-1.16	-0.28	1.44
AXA KiwiSaver Income Plus	AXA	-0.81	-1.48	-2.19
ING KiwiSaver – Conservative Fund	ING	-1.47	-0.66	0.67
TOWER KiwiPlan-Cash Enhanced	Tower	-0.83	-1.93	-0.48
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Multisector Options
Conservative	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AMP KiwiSaver Default Fund	AMP	0.36	-1.45	1.91
ANZ KiwiSaver – Conservative Fund	ING	-1.55	-1.50	0.34
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Tracker Conserv Fund	ASB	-1.16	-0.13	1.51
ASB KiwiSaver Conservative Fund (Default)	ASB	-1.16	-0.28	1.44
Asteron KiwiSaver Conservative Fund	Asteron	-3.84	-3.94	-3.72
AXA KiwiSaver Income Plus	AXA	-0.81	-1.48	-2.19
Fidelity KiwiSaver-Capital Guaranteed Kiwi	Fidelity	0.16	0.26	–
Fidelity KiwiSaver-Conservative Kiwi Fund	Fidelity	-2.10	-3.40	-0.60
ING KiwiSaver – Conservative Fund	ING	-1.47	-0.66	0.67
ING KiwiSaver SIL Conservative Fund	ING	-1.47	-1.32	0.55
National Bank KiwiSaver – Conservative	ING	-1.54	-1.48	0.35
Smartshares Smartkiwi Conservative Fund	NZX	0.32	-1.50	0.78
TOWER KiwiPlan-Cash Enhanced	Tower	-0.83	-1.93	-0.48
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Moderate	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AMP KiwiSaver Conservative Fund	AMP	-0.01	1.45	6.17
AMP KiwiSaver Moderate Fund	AMP	-0.59	-4.47	-1.52
ANZ KiwiSaver – Conservative Balanced Fund	ING	-2.80	-5.74	-5.40
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Active Conservative Fund	ASB	-1.62	-3.31	-3.60
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Tracker Moderate Fund	ASB	-4.23	-8.43	-9.01
ASB KiwiSaver Moderate Fund	ASB	-4.22	-8.37	-8.61
AXA KiwiSaver Conservative	AXA	-1.15	-2.06	–
Huljich Conservative Diversified KiwiSaver Fund	Huljich	-1.33	5.83	7.39
ING KiwiSaver – Conservative Balanced	ING	-2.79	-4.26	-4.66
ING KiwiSaver SIL Conservative Balanced Fund	ING	-2.67	-5.55	-5.23
National Bank KiwiSaver – Conservative Balanced	ING	-2.82	-5.73	-5.44
Smartshares Smartkiwi Balanced Fund	NZX	-3.73	-12.74	-14.68
TOWER KiwiPlan-Conservative	Tower	-2.12	-5.25	-5.84
Westpac KiwiSaver-Conservative Fund	Westpac	-1.38	-1.76	-0.88
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Balanced	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AMP KiwiSaver – TYNDALL Balanced Fund	Tyndall	-1.96	-12.81	-13.32
AMP KiwiSaver Balanced Fund	AMP	-1.36	-9.89	-9.14
AMP KiwiSaver-ING Balanced Fund	AMP	-2.66	-13.71	-12.88
AMP KiwiSaver Moderate Balanced Fund	AMP	-1.18	-8.32	-6.86
AMP KiwiSaver-TOWER Balanced Fund	AMP	-1.04	-9.27	-10.16
ANZ KiwiSaver – Balanced Fund	ING	-3.79	-9.32	-10.51
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Active Balanced Fund	ASB	-4.01	-10.91	-14.27
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Tracker Balanced Fund	ASB	-5.92	-13.76	-16.35
ASB KiwiSaver Balanced Fund	ASB	-5.91	-14.05	-16.24
Asteron KiwiSaver Balanced Fund	Asteron	-2.25	-9.58	-11.29
AXA KiwiSaver Balanced	AXA	-3.51	-10.64	-16.17
Brook Professional KiwiSaver Scheme Balanced Fund	Brook	-0.14	-2.71	-1.71
Fidelity KiwiSaver-Balanced Kiwi Fund	Fidelity	-4.67	-6.13	-4.49
Fidelity KiwiSaver-Ethical Kiwi	Fidelity	-3.03	-10.89	–
Huljich Balanced Diversified KiwiSaver Fund	Huljich	-1.06	1.82	-1.40
ING KiwiSaver – Balanced	ING	-3.91	-7.63	-9.97
ING KiwiSaver SIL Balanced Fund	ING	-3.62	-8.95	-10.15
National Bank KiwiSaver – Balanced	ING	-3.78	-9.23	-10.40
TOWER KiwiPlan-Balanced	Tower	-4.71	-10.14	-13.26
Westpac KiwiSaver-Balanced Fund	Westpac	-3.72	-6.96	-9.32
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Growth	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AMP KiwiSaver Growth Fund	AMP	-2.32	-17.05	-18.11
ANZ KiwiSaver – Balanced Growth Fund	ING	-4.92	-13.09	-15.69
ANZ KiwiSaver – Growth Fund	ING	-5.82	-16.59	-20.66
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Active Growth Fund	ASB	-4.96	-13.99	-19.09
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Tracker Growth Fund	ASB	-7.52	-19.15	-23.37
ASB KiwiSaver Growth Fund	ASB	-7.51	-19.15	-22.98
Asteron KiwiSaver Balanced Growth Fund	Asteron	-1.90	-15.65	-18.74
Fidelity KiwiSaver-Growth Kiwi Fund	Fidelity	-6.81	-12.27	-12.85
Huljich Growth Diversified KiwiSaver Fund	Huljich	-1.08	1.67	-3.68
ING KiwiSaver – Balanced Growth	ING	-5.02	-10.87	-14.86
ING KiwiSaver – Growth Fund	ING	-6.19	-14.25	-19.71
ING KiwiSaver SIL Balanced Growth Fund	ING	-4.74	-12.76	-15.42
ING KiwiSaver SIL Growth Fund	ING	-5.61	-16.30	-20.36
National Bank KiwiSaver – Balanced Growth	ING	-4.87	-13.10	-15.74
National Bank KiwiSaver – Growth	ING	-5.91	-16.70	-20.73
Westpac KiwiSaver-Growth Fund	Westpac	-4.52	-9.82	-13.54
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Aggressive	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AMP KiwiSaver Aggressive Fund	AMP	-2.92	-20.64	-22.71
AXA KiwiSaver Growth	AXA	-5.66	-16.88	-24.18
Brook Professional KiwiSaver Scheme Growth Fund	Brook	-0.80	-5.53	-6.30
Fidelity KiwiSaver-Aggressive Kiwi Fund	Fidelity	-2.14	-15.01	-14.75
First NZ Capital KiwiSaver Scheme	FNZC	-2.86	-19.06	-26.15
Fisher Funds Growth KiwiSaver Scheme	Fisher	2.89	-11.92	-16.04
TOWER KiwiPlan-Growth	Tower	-6.58	-17.02	-23.19
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Single Sector Options
Cash	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AMP KiwiSaver Cash Fund	AMP	1.25	3.44	8.06
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver NZ Cash Fund	ASB	1.00	2.87	7.31
ASB KiwiSaver NZ Bank Deposit Fund	ASB	1.00	2.87	7.26
Asteron KiwiSaver Capital Fund	Asteron	1.90	3.33	7.67
AXA KiwiSaver Cash	AXA	0.72	2.38	6.37
ING KiwiSaver – Cash Plus Fund	ING	1.10	2.91	7.24
ING KiwiSaver SIL Cash Plus Fund	ING	0.93	2.58	6.62
ANZ KiwiSaver Cash Fund	NZGT	1.04	2.76	–
National Bank KiwiSaver Cash Fund	NZGT	1.05	2.77	–
TOWER KiwiPlan-Preservation	Tower	1.13	3.02	7.36
Westpac KiwiSaver-Cash Fund	Westpac	0.92	2.33	5.95
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Fixed Income	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
Asteron KiwiSaver High Yield Fixed Interest Fund	Asteron	-4.81	-2.91	-2.33
ING KiwiSaver SIL New Zealand Fixed Interest Fund	ING	-1.83	-1.72	3.00
ING KiwiSaver SIL International Fixed Int Fund	ING	-0.01	7.34	11.09
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Property	Underlying Manager	3-month	6-month	1-year
Asteron KiwiSaver Global Property Fund	Asteron	-21.24	-52.32	-55.99
ING KiwiSaver SIL Australasian Property Fund	ING	-7.73	-20.08	-25.00
ING KiwiSaver SIL International Property Fund	ING	-26.13	-53.07	-58.26
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Australasian Equity	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
AonSaver AMT KiwiSaver Milford Aggressive Fund	Milford	2.03	3.61	6.74
Asteron KiwiSaver SRI Share Fund	Asteron	-3.95	-13.62	-22.83
Asteron KiwiSaver Trans-Tasman Small Companies Shr	Asteron	5.53	-20.19	-27.65
ING KiwiSaver SIL Australasian Share Fund	ING	-3.48	-12.82	-20.59
Smartshares Smartkiwi Growth Fund	NZX	-6.63	-21.82	-26.98
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International Equity	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Active High Growth Fund	ASB	-9.43	-24.46	–
ASB FirstChoice KiwiSaver Global Sustainability Fd	ASB	-4.50	-9.30	–
Asteron KiwiSaver International Share Fund	Asteron	-5.34	-22.39	-25.26
ING KiwiSaver SIL International Share Fund	ING	-7.47	-16.64	-19.69
ING Kiwisaver SIL Sustainable Growth Fund	Super’tion Inv	-6.58	-16.42	–
TOWER KiwiPlan-Equity	Tower	-8.03	-21.41	-30.59
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Miscellaneous	Underlying Manager	3-month (%)	6-month (%)	1-year (%)
Fidelity KiwiSaver-Options Kiwi Fund	Fidelity	12.96	-13.52	-1.51
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Note: Mike Pero and NZF SuperKiwi KiwiSaver products are represented by the Huljich funds.
Estimated Total Ongoing Fee is the sum of the Management Fee, the Trustee Fee, and Administration Fees.