Fisher Funds takes out People’s Choice award

28 June 2016

Fisher Funds takes out Consumer NZ’s 2016 People’s Choice award for KiwiSaver

Fisher Funds, the largest New Zealand-owned and -operated KiwiSaver provider, has been named Consumer NZ’s 2016 People’s Choice award winner for KiwiSaver.

The award follows part-owner TSB Bank being named Consumer NZ’s People’s Choice winner for banking earlier this month.

People’s Choice winners are found through analysis of Consumer NZ surveys. The KiwiSaver survey was a nationally representative sample of 1020 New Zealanders aged 18 and over that asked respondents to rate their KiwiSaver provider.

A brand must be a standout performer for customer satisfaction to achieve People’s Choice status.

Consumer NZ general manager – business Derek Bonnar said Fisher Funds could be proud of its performance.

“Fisher Funds achieved an overall satisfaction rating of 67 percent compared with the industry average of 48 percent. It also scored above average for keeping customers updated about their investments, returns on investments and fees and charges. BNZ (63 percent) and our 2015 People’s Choice winner, Kiwi Wealth (60 percent), also performed strongly for overall satisfaction,” Mr Bonnar said.

“We congratulate Fisher Funds on an outstanding achievement.”

Fisher Funds managing director Carmel Fisher said the award was testimony to the efforts of the team in meeting the needs of KiwiSaver clients.

“I’m thrilled with the result and really proud of the whole team. We know that KiwiSaver plays an important role in the lives of every New Zealander, whether it’s enabling a first home purchase, helping people achieve their savings goals, or providing comfort and choice in their retirement.”

The survey showed across the industry, fees and returns on investments were the areas with the lowest levels of satisfaction. Only about a third of respondents were very satisfied on these measures. When asked what their provider could do to improve satisfaction, lower fees and higher returns topped the list.

“Our survey identified many consumers were not confident about getting good advice for making investment decisions with only 54 percent stating they felt they had access to sufficient information and only 40 percent said they found it easy to compare KiwiSaver options,” Mr Bonnar said.

“This should send a message to the industry it needs to do better in terms of providing quality information and advice to KiwiSavers.”

Consumer NZ is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Winners of Consumer NZ endorsements and awards can license use of the awards for marketing and promotions. All revenue raised from the endorsement programme goes back into the research Consumer NZ does on behalf of Kiwis.

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