ASB KiwiSaver picked up about 75 per cent of FirstChoice members following the scheme’s wind-up, a spokesperson for the bank said.
The spokesperson said approximately 9,000 members switched to the main ASB scheme after the FirstChoice closure, which occurred in two phases. It is understood about 60 per cent of FirstChoice members were transferred in bulk to ASB scheme funds while the remainder – who could not be matched to equivalent investments in the bank KiwiSaver – selected a new scheme individually or, failing that, were shunted to the default carousel.
According to the final FirstChoice accounts filed last week, the scheme reported about $280 million in funds under management prior to wind-up, suggesting about $210 million shifted to the ASB KiwiSaver product based on the 75 per cent membership transfer.
After a similar wrangle with regulators, Kiwibank also closed its legacy AMP-managed KiwiSaver scheme last year under a two-tranche process with a slightly higher proportion of members understood to have switched to the bank-preferred Kiwi Wealth product.
Earlier this month a Melville Jessup Weaver survey found the Kiwibank scheme mergers profoundly altered the statistical profile of the Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver.
Excluding the dwindling amount of niche funds, registered KiwiSaver scheme numbers could hit a low of 28 this year compared to 35 as at March 31 last year. Last week Mercer confirmed its Super Trust KiwiSaver would join FirstChoice and the old Kiwibank scheme on the casualty list along with Fidelity. Both the NZX-owned SmartKiwi and the Staples Rodway schemes are also expected to close following recent deals with Superlife and SBS subsidiary, FANZ, respectively.