A gang of four mid-tier KiwiSaver providers remain clustered in a range of about $300 million in the September quarter as market trends held steady, according to the latest data from Australian research house Plan for Life (PFL).
The PFL figures plot a narrow gap between the 11th ranked (and still fastest-growing) Generate and eighth-largest KiwiSaver provider, Milford Asset Management as at September 30 last year with respective funds under management of $2.2 billion plus and almost $2.6 billion.
During the quarter, Booster replaced Mercer as the ninth-biggest KiwiSaver scheme with its almost 9 per cent growth-rate over the period pushing FUM to just below $2.4 billion. Mercer, up 4.4 per cent for the three-month period, now lags Booster by roughly $20 million.
In line with recent history, three locally owned providers carded the highest-growth scores for the quarter, led by Generate (almost 14 per cent), Simplicity (13.5 per cent) and Milford 12.3 per cent. While no other providers breached double-digit quarterly growth-rates, BNZ (7.4 per cent) and Kiwi Wealth (6.5 per cent) both bettered the market average of 6.4 per cent.
All of the top five providers fell under the broader market pace, although ANZ, Fisher Funds and BT/Westpac – first-, third- and fifth-largest, respectively – kept close, growing almost 6 per cent during the three-month stretch.
The $12.5 billion ASB KiwiSaver scheme somewhat dropped behind peers over the quarter, increasing FUM by 4.8 per cent with AMP, once again, recording the lowest growth-rate of 3.8 per cent.
Fisher halved the gap between the fourth-placed AMP in the September quarter, closing to within $120 million as both providers hover above $6 billion.
Even without Generate and Simplicity (now named in the PFL table) among them, the KiwiSaver ‘others’ – comprising 20-odd schemes – outgrew the average, adding 8.6 per cent in collective FUM over the three months.
Despite net KiwiSaver funds flow of $2.4 billion during the September quarter falling slightly below the same period in 2019, investment earnings of some $2 billion took the total sector FUM to more than $73.4 billion.
Over the last couple of years, the KiwiSaver universe has expanded from a low of 29 to the current 36 with latest arrivals – InvestNow, Select and the Consilium-backed KiwiWrap – all checking in with the last six months. It is understood at least one more scheme could be in the offing this year.