The Medical Assurance Society (MAS) is making a bid in the retail funds market more than two years after opening up its KiwiSaver scheme to the broader public.
MAS has established a suite of seven retail funds that mirror those available in the group’s KiwiSaver scheme, covering five risk-weighted diversified strategies and two stand-alone asset classes (cash and global equities).
Ahead of the impending retail launch, the medical industry specialist financial services provider also cut fees in the KiwiSaver scheme as reported last week.
The MAS KiwiSaver shifted from restricted scheme to full retail status in 2021 as part of a plan to grow beyond its core medical constituency.
Although the scheme was open to all-comers at launch in 2007, changes to KiwiSaver independent trustee requirements several years later saw it reclassified as restricted, which considerably narrowed the target audience.
While the MAS KiwiSaver was by far the largest of the half dozen or so restricted schemes, membership numbers plateaued at just above 15,000. As at the end of March this year, the scheme reported 15,118 members and $1.1 billion under management.
Overall, the medical group manages more than $2 billion across its KiwiSaver, traditional superannuation and insurance investment pools.
The MAS fund underlying managers include JBWere for Australasian equities, BlackRock in international equities, Hunter (PIMCO) for global fixed income, Bancorp for local bonds and cash and the BNZ currency overlay.
JBWere, ultimately owned by the National Australia Bank, also acts as MAS investment adviser and custodian, while Link provides administration services for the funds.
MAS recently hired Daniel Mead as investment manager to replace Colin Thomson. Mead was previously senior portfolio manager for the AMP NZ wealth management business.
Established as a mutual society in 1921, MAS is headed by Jason McCracken, who replaced long-time incumbent, Martin Stokes, this March.
The group is facing court proceedings brought by the Financial Markets Authority over alleged ‘fair dealing’ breaches after MAS earlier alerted the regulator of potential insurance policy pricing mistakes, which have since been remediated.