kiwisaver

Start-up KiwiSaver firm Kōura Wealth has taken aim at a recent Kiwi Invest paper extolling the virtues of active management. In an ‘open letter to NZ’s active fund managers’, Kōura founder, Rupert Carlyon, disputes the Kiwi Invest findings that passive fund investors “are going to be disappointed in the long run”. The letter says “the… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has no plans to set KiwiSaver fee levels or dig in the margins as it embarks on a sector-wide value-for-money investigation, according to regulation director, Liam Mason. Instead, the FMA has expects to hold a series of “sharper conversations” with KiwiSaver schemes – particularly fee ‘outliers’ – in the wake… [Read More…]

ASB has entered the impact investing game with a new fund available via its KiwiSaver and retail product suite. The ASB Positive Impact Fund (PIF), which officially launched in July, invests in international equities and global fixed income through vehicles managed by Mercer and Vanguard, respectively. According to ASB disclosure documents, the PIF has a… [Read More…]

Milford Asset Management has made further tweaks to its fast-growing KiwiSaver scheme, dropping the annual administration fee for members at opposite ends of the age range and launching a new high-growth investment option. Murray Harris, who moved from head of wealth management to a new KiwiSaver-focused role at Milford in April, said the scheme had… [Read More…]

Another new KiwiSaver provider is poised to enter the market in a joint venture between Hobson Wealth and former KPMG consultant, Rupert Carlyon. It is understood that the Kōura Wealth scheme, once launched, would have a robo-advice-like front-end that feeds into portfolios managed by Hobson. Carlyon owns about half of Kōura while stock broking house… [Read More…]

All KiwiSaver providers will have to cut transfer times by more than two-thirds under new legislation just referred to select committee. Among other items, the Taxation (KiwiSaver, Student Loans and Remedial Matters) Bill would require all schemes to shift members to rival providers within 10 working days after receiving a transfer request compared to the… [Read More…]

A string of financial firms have featured in the latest batch of complaints lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the wake of a successful action against AMP in April. In April this year, the ASA upheld a complaint – by Hayley Robertson and financial adviser John Cliffe – that AMP breached advertising standards… [Read More…]

Another KiwiSaver provider is set to launch with sustainability-focused Auckland boutique manager Pathfinder throwing its hat in the ring. According to its recently-released statement of investment policy and objectives (SIPO), the ‘CareSaver’ scheme features three risk-weighted portfolios that invest into directly-held stocks that score highly on environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures. The new scheme… [Read More…]

Fund administrators are poised for a huge influx of form-filling in the wake of last week’s prescribed investor rate (PIR) sweep by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). Ryan Bessemer, Trustees Executors (TE) chief, said the IRD PIR shock, which found approximately 450,000 portfolio investment entity (PIE) fund investors with faulty tax settings, would inevitably flow… [Read More…]

Over half of the 200 or so KiwiSaver funds remained under water as at the end of March despite a strong bounce in markets during the first quarter of 2019, according to research from financial product comparison website, Pocketwise. Binu Paul, Pocketwise co-founder, said the late 2018 global equity market slump pushed about 80 per… [Read More…]

KiwiSaver funds under management (FUM) verged on $60 billion as at the end of March this year, new figures from the Financial Services Council (FSC) have revealed. The FSC KiwiSaver numbers – based on a survey by its twin organisation, Workplace Savings NZ (WSNZ) – found total market FUM hit more than $58.5 billion as… [Read More…]

KiwiSaver will be the cornerstone asset for many New Zealanders as the first rung on the property ladder inches ever higher, according to Joe Bishop, Kiwi Wealth head of retail. Bishop said a new Kiwi Wealth investment survey due out tomorrow found many New Zealanders – particularly younger cohorts – were increasingly shut out of… [Read More…]

The government could subject a wide range of financial institutions including KiwiSaver providers to proposed conduct regulations that emerged last week in response to recent bank and life insurer investigations. An options paper released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) late in the week lays out a series of measures designed to… [Read More…]

Changes to KiwiSaver and portfolio investment entity (PIE) rules remain on the table despite the government’s rejection of a broad capital gains tax (CGT) today. In its detailed response to the 90-odd Tax Working Group (TWG) proposals released this afternoon, the government has slated the KiwiSaver and PIE reforms for further consideration. “This [KiwiSaver] work… [Read More…]

Over 500,000 middle-bracket New Zealanders could be short-changed if the government adopts some of the KiwiSaver recommendations included in the Tax Working Group (TWG) final report. The TWG report recommends lowering the KiwiSaver prescribed investor rate (PIR) for the bottom two tax rates – 10.5 and 17.5 per cent – by 5 per cent to… [Read More…]

NZ Funds Management has embarked on an ambitious growth drive targeting the UK pension transfer, adviser-distributed KiwiSaver, term deposit and trust markets with re-engineered and re-priced products. Michael Lang, who jumped from NZ Funds CIO to CEO last year, said the Auckland-based firm had hit the ground running in 2019 with a “zero transfer fee”… [Read More…]

Robot number four has been approved to offer digital financial advice in NZ. The Auckland-based National Capital, owned by authorised financial adviser (AFA) Clive Fernandes earned the right to offer robo-advice services via an exemption issued at the end of January. National Capital joins Kiwi Wealth, Nikko Asset Management and Cigna Life as ‘digital advice providers’… [Read More…]