Mercer has added three more portfolios to its main KiwiSaver scheme aligning the investment choices closely with the manager’s employer-based Super Trust KiwiSaver.
It is understood the changes, which increase the number of Mercer default scheme investment portfolios from four to seven, are a precursor to winding down the Super Trust KiwiSaver, which is now closed to new members.
According to an amended prospectus published in February this year, Mercer introduced new moderate, growth and shares options to its existing cash, conservative, balanced and high growth portfolios for its main scheme.
Mercer has also changed the name of the default portfolio from ‘KiwiSaver’ to ‘Conservative’.
Meanwhile, in February the Mercer Super Trust KiwiSaver cut its 14 underlying portfolios down to seven, following the same asset allocation and nomenclature as the default scheme.
The Mercer Super Trust KiwiSaver scheme, which was modeled on the group’s employer super master trust product, as at March 2014 recorded about 7,000 members and $122 million. By contrast, Mercer’s default KiwiSaver scheme reported just under 95,000 members and almost $884 million under management at the same date.
However, Mercer has struggled to attract members beyond those allocated via the KiwiSaver default system. According to Mercer KiwiSaver March 2014 accounts, the default portfolio accounts for almost 90 per cent of the scheme’s total funds under management.
Martin Lewington, Mercer NZ chief, was unavailable for comment.