Ngāi Tahu funds management subsidiary, Whai Rawa, will move its administration from Mercer to FNZ following a review with a potential investment change and KiwiSaver launch also on the horizon.
Sam Kellar, Whai Rawa general manager, said the iwi-based savings vehicle selected FNZ as its new admin provider following a request-for-proposal (RFP) process earlier this year.
“It’s in the early days of the transition,” Kellar said. “But FNZ put forward a good proposition – an important focus for us is to improve the user experience.”
Established in 2006, Whai Rawa morphed into a licensed scheme in 2016, initially using Link for admin and Mercer as underlying investment manager.
Mercer took over the admin in 2019. At the same time, the scheme expanded its investment offering from a single conservative fund to three risk-weighted strategies – also run by Mercer.
Whai Rawa has “more than $160m funds under management and over 35,000 Kāi Tahu whānau in the scheme”, according to its 2024 annual report.
The fund offers a dedicated savings vehicle for iwi members – with some co-contributions from Ngāi Tahu – to help pay for education, house purchases or retirement and the like.
During the latest financial year, for instance, Whai Rawa members withdrew about $35 million.
Kellar said the scheme would also embark on an investment review – with a consultant lined up – ahead of a potential full-scale RFP.
“We’re going to review our investment approach to work out our optimal model,” he said.
And the iwi investment manager was also considering launching a KiwiSaver scheme.
David Boyle, Whai Rawa chair (and former Mint Asset Management head of marketing), says in the report: “One of the exciting initiatives is looking to see if a Kāi Tahu KiwiSaver scheme is a good idea for whānau and will benefit them with a product that is whānau first and complements the Whai Rawa scheme, collectively helping whānau to achieve key life goals.”
The scheme and iwi previously explored a KiwiSaver option in 2017, ultimately putting the idea on ice the following year.
However, Kellar said the Whai Rawa and Ngāi Tahu boards have greenlit another attempt to build the case for an iwi-KiwiSaver.
Ngāi Tahu has about 83,000 members – although some scattered around the world are not eligible to join the savings scheme.