Investment News New Zealand (IN NZ), or its previous unbranded identity, has been closely tracking the KiwiSaver market since inception via its widely-read annual report report.
Now in its 10th edition, the latest iteration of the IN NZ yearly KiwiSaver survey is available free to interested parties at this busy online location.
The ‘King of all it surveys’ study finds the KiwiSaver market has apparently reached a level of maturity in keeping with its double-digit age status.
For instance, the latest annual period has featured zero corporate activity not already mentioned in the 2016 IN NZ report: namely, the launch of the passive-tracker scheme, Simplicity, and the merger of the SRF and Waterfront schemes under the Maritime Retirement Scheme (MRS) banner.
Just 29 schemes remain in the KiwiSaver race, down from about 50 (including corporate-only offerings) at its peak. Officially, the Disclose website names 30 KiwiSaver schemes with the NZX-owned Smartshares – trapped in a UK qualifying registered overseas pension scheme (QROPS) quagmire still housing 12 refugees.
Regardless, the 29 KiwiSaver schemes (covering 25 providers) continue to tussle in a maturing market. The IN NZ report shows the year has been kind to most schemes with bumper flows, solid investment returns and membership growth (for almost everyone).
The good news, of course, has not been evenly distributed. Bank-owned KiwiSaver royalty have more-or-less maintained their grip on power without extending it over the 12 months to March 31. Budding pretenders, meanwhile, have been pressing their claims: most notably, Generate, BNZ, Kiwi Wealth and Milford.
While the ‘King of all it surveys’ report offers a broad overview of the reigning situation, supporting statistics are also available under the terms and conditions as below.
The findings in this report are based on figures collected from the annual reports of 29 KiwiSaver schemes.
A complete set of the data in Excel spreadsheet form, covering member and funds under management trends; fees and expenses; investment returns; scheme transfers and other metrics, is available for a not-unreasonable fee of $260 plus GST ($299 including GST).
Please contact the author at david@investmentnews.co.nz or
ph +64 21 022 575 03 for further details.