Who is winning the battle for KiwiSaver members?

Media Release

September 24, 2009

Who is winning the battle for KiwiSaver members?

A comprehensive survey of KiwiSaver numbers has been published showing which managers are doing the best (and worst) at recruiting new members.

The survey, published by personal finance website www.goodreturns.co.nz, compares all KiwiSaver managers between March 31 2008 and March 31, 2009.

It provides growth in funds under management and membership growth.

Commonwealth Bank-owned ASB once more topped the list as the single largest KiwiSaver scheme with almost $450 million in funds under management and over 170,000 members compared to $101 million under management and 72,305 members at the same time last year.

The ASB-owned FirstChoice scheme also totalled 11,213 members and $37.3 million as at the end of March this year.

However, ING was the most successful overall provider with a total 212,732 members and $523 million across the four schemes it manages - the ING default scheme, ANZ, National Bank and SIL.

The survey, which represents about $2.6 billion in funds under management and almost 980,000 KiwiSaver members, showed the average member balance as at March 31 this year was approximately $2,650 with a wide range across the providers.

The fast growing scheme was Huljich. Huljich has been in the media recently over some of its selling practices.

Various branded versions of the Huljich scheme are sold by Mike Pero Mortgages, NZX-listed finance company NZF and most recently it signed a distribution agreement with another listed company Dorchester Pacific.

The six default managers (ASB, AMP, AXA, ING, Mercer and TOWER) dominate the top spots in funds under management.

The exceptions are that Westpac is in number three place with $237.9 million in funds under management.

A number of niche providers have also performed well in gathering funds under management and members. Noteworthy performers are Gareth Morgan, Fisher Funds and Fidelity Life.

The Huljich KiwiSaver scheme recorded the lowest average member balance of $670 while the tiny $1.55 million Brook Asset Management scheme scored the highest average with over $7,045 per member.

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