As reported first on Investment News NZ (IN NZ), two new KiwiSaver schemes have entered the game in the last couple of months.
The arrival of the Pathfinder-backed CareSaver in July and Kōura Wealth early this month suggests a wave of start-up optimism is rolling over a KiwiSaver market that has historically favoured the big and the banks.
And as the latest IN NZ annual KiwiSaver report reveals, the top-of-the-table institutions have given up a few crumbs to the little people over the last several years.
The IN NZ ‘Cracking a dozen’ KiwiSaver study found that the top five providers by funds under management (FUM) collectively lost almost 2 per cent market share over the 12 months to March 31, 2019, following a similar decline in the previous period.
Boutiques such as Generate, Milford and Simplicity have been among the major beneficiaries of the current market fluidity, the IN NZ report shows, with the trio of providers filling out the first, second and third rankings, respectively, by net transfers in the 2018/19 year.
However, last year’s new entrants – the Pie Funds-owned Juno and Nikko Asset Management – have found it tougher going, especially the latter, giving pause for thought to start-ups without distribution.
The latest IN NZ report – available free for download here – also suggests natural growth in the KiwiSaver market is easing off with a slight decline in new member numbers year-on-year.
In an environment of slower organic growth, the competition for existing KiwiSaver members can only increase. But at least one other provider is expected to follow Kōura and CareSaver into the KiwiSaver arena in this financial year.
At the same time, investment volatility, fee compression and a looming shake-up of the default scheme settings could render all predictions useless.
But after a dozen years in operation, the KiwiSaver past is, at least, open to scrutiny in the 2019 IN NZ report.
The findings in this report are based on figures collected from the annual reports of 31 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 still not-unreasonable fee of $300 plus GST ($345 including GST).
Please contact the author at david@investmentnews.co.nz or
ph +64 21 022 575 03 for further details.