The Panel with Andie McCombs and Kirsty Cameron Part 2
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RNZ News
24 minutes ago
- RNZ News
KiwiSaver shakeup sees billions shifted from big banks to boutique operators
Photo: 123RF KiwiSaver members are quitting big bank providers and shifting their investments to independent and boutique operators. Data for the most recent financial year, compiled from documents filed on the Disclose register, shows that Milford Asset Management was the biggest winner, with almost $1.5 billion of net funds transferred in. In total, there is about $120b invested in KiwiSaver. Generate was second, Simplicity third and Kernel fourth. At the other end of the table, ANZ lost a net $728.7 million in transfers, ASB $476.6m and Westpac $353.2m. ANZ still has the largest market share, at 17.5 percent, followed by ASB with 14.7 percent. In 2015, ANZ had almost a quarter of the market, but since then it has suffered through a period of poor performance . In Morningstar's March survey, ANZ's conservative fund was bottom of the pack over 10 years, balanced was 15th out of 16, and its growth funds were 11th and 14th out of 14. ANZ said the market was "extremely competitive". "Across the industry, a total of 163,000 KiwiSaver members transferred providers in the year to March 2025, up 22 percent. "ANZ continues to focus on helping New Zealanders feel more confident and in control of their KiwiSaver investment. "That means supporting better conversations, especially through our banking channels. We're also proactively checking in and communicating with members, not just waiting for them to come to us. "We're continuing to invest in intuitive tools and digital experiences, such as our Fund Chooser Tool and government Contribution Tracker, to make managing KiwiSaver simpler for customers. "Additionally, we've refreshed our investment beliefs and continued to reduce fees across several of our funds, benefiting our members and reinforcing our commitment to delivering strong, long-term value." Greg Bunkall, data director at Morningstar, said Milford and Generate were the only providers with more than $1b in net inflows in the year. "Those two providers also feature heavily in the top of the league tables regularly. As a provider, you need to have strong brand awareness, marketing, and lead generation functions - but the performance would help. "If you talk to some of the KiwiSaver providers that do well and receive earned media, they will typically see larger than normal switches in days that follow - so that would at least anecdotally support at least some degree of performance chasing in the KiwiSaver cohort." KiwiWrap topped the table on a measure of the number of dollars in versus the number out, followed by Kernel. Kernel had the biggest percentage growth in funds under management. Milford head of KiwiSaver Murray Harris said its long-term returns were helping to draw customers in. Morningstar reports showed Milford among the top performers over three, five and 10-year periods. He said there tended to be more interest in provider switching in the middle of the year, when people were encouraged to check their funds and ensure they had contributed enough to get the full government contribution. "Members are quite focused on their KiwISaver and get a reminder to look at it. We often see a boost this time of year." He said KiwiSaver balances had become more significant for many members, and it made sense that they were looking at what options were available to them. People considering switching should compare long-term returns, he said, not just the most recent quarter or year. "We've seen some very specialist funds do very well, gold and crypto are doing well at the moment… don't just look at the short-term returns but the long-term. "How consistent are they at providing those market-leading returns throughout time? Five and ten years would be the minimum. These are very long-term investments, so the longer the track record you look at, the better." People were more likely to move when markets were performing well, he said. "We've had strong market returns almost every day since the wobble in April, that makes people more confident to transfer. When markets are not doing well, they tend not to transfer because they think they'll crystallise the loss with one provider." But as long as people were moving to a similar fund type, they would not be in a worse position for shifting providers. "You might do better if you recover the fall in value driven by the market sooner." Kernel founder Dean Anderson said people were becoming more engaged and realising that KiwiSaver wasn't just a bank product. "Now that education and awareness is growing, people realise there are better solutions out there." But compared to the number of people who switched for a better deal on their power or phone, he said, switching activity was still very low. "I think we should expect to see that increase. As balances get bigger, people think, 'Am I better off elsewhere? Are there better fees, better service, better values that align with mine?" The growth of smaller, newer providers showed people had confidence in the scheme, he said. "There's confidence that these players are good, stable, growing businesses. You don't have to be with the bank." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Auckland Council's recovery office removes more than 250 storm-damaged or risky homes
Houses in Candia Drive sit abandoned and have been subsequently vandalised since the floods at the start of 2023. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro Auckland Council's recovery office has so far removed more than 250 storm-damaged or risky homes in the region, as it prepares to wind up buyouts. The council expects to buy just over 1200 high-risk homes by the end of this year as part of the $1.2 billion buyout shared with the government. Council said homeowners needed to have sale-and-purchase agreements signed no later than 19 December, with settlements continuing into early 2026. Group recovery manager Mace Ward said 1189 houses had been deemed eligible for buyout so far, with hundreds settled. "We're moving at a good pace - 843 buyouts have been settled, giving those whānau the ability to move on with their lives," he said. "We're now dealing with the more intricate cases and some of these are the hardest we've had to navigate. Shared ownership, for example, presents some really challenging situations, especially for the people involved." Ward said they were also dealing with many who felt like they had missed out on a buyout. "As expected, we are also dealing with a lot of people who feel like they missed out, so the next question is how we help Aucklanders, not just to understand, but adapt in a time of climate instability. We all have a role to play." Council had identified 145 high-risk properties, but that could be reduced. "We're supporting about 145 homeowners to make their homes safer, so they can continue living in the communities they love," Ward said. "This includes practical measures, like building retaining walls, or lifting or shifting homes to reduce their risk." More than 250 homes have been removed, of which a third have been relocated. Milford has 140 high-risk homes eligible for buyout, the most of any Auckland suburb, and of those, 17 have been removed. Council aims to remove about 30 storm-damaged homes a month until November 2027. Ward said most of the work ahead involved removing the high-risk homes and deciding what to do with the land council had bought. "This process has only just begun and, with buy-outs still underway, it'll take time to carefully assess each site's potential," he said. "We have a region-wide policy guiding this work. Safety remains our number one priority, but we also need to deliver value for Aucklanders, especially given how expensive this recovery effort has been." Meanwhile, in partnership with the government, Auckland Council has confirmed four major flood resilience projects - two in Mangere , and the others in Wairau Park and Ranui . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Sweeping reforms to money laundering laws
Photo: 123RF The government has unveiled sweeping reforms to the country's anti money laundering laws to crack down on dirty money. Set to be in place by the next election, the changes to New Zealand's Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime aim to shut down dodgy deals, tighten financial loopholes, and take on the criminal underworld, while cutting unnecessary red tape for law-abiding citizens. It is estimated that a staggering $1.35 billion is generated from money laundering in New Zealand every year. The Detail talks to Lloyd Kavanagh, a financial services lawyer and deal maker from Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, about the changes, which include giving police greater powers to freeze bank accounts more quickly, banning cryptocurrency ATMs, introducing a more risk-based system for selling property from family trusts, and making it easier for parents to open bank accounts for their children. Kavanagh also welcomes efforts to streamline and simplify the system by introducing one supervision layer to oversee the rules. "Currently, we have three supervisors who supervise different segments of the market," he tells The Detail. "You have the Reserve Bank, who is the AML supervisor for banks, you have the FMA who oversees securities market participants broadly, and then you have the Department of Internal Affairs, who looks after casinos and everybody else... lenders, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, and quite a wide range of smaller businesses. "What the government is proposing is... we should have a single supervisor so that they can be consistent in the guidance that they give to reporting entities, and have a total overview of what's going on in the sector. So that is one measure which I think will have a significant impact. "Some of the other measures ... are actually to relieve the administrative burden - one of them is, at the moment, you have to verify your customer's address, which proves to be really difficult for a lot of people.... so, the change will mean you only have to do that if you have got reasons for thinking it's a high-risk customer. "I am actually optimistic that by removing some of the mandatory bureaucracy, resources will get refocused in doing what I think, and I certainly hope all New Zealanders are keen to do, which is to use the pressure on what happens to the proceeds of crime to help us detect crime in the first place." He does have some concerns about giving greater powers to police - "I'm a little reserved about simply giving additional powers to the police if you don't have the right checks and balances" - and questions the ban on cryptocurrency ATMs, which are kiosks that allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrency using cash. "I'm somewhat puzzled by that inclusion because I haven't seen the evidence as to why that would be a particular priority." But ultimately, he believes the law changes will make a difference. "We all benefit if there is less crime in New Zealand. These people [money launderers] make business decisions as to which countries are easier to operate in and profitable to operate in. "And we know from the reports that have come from the government over the last year that New Zealand has an increasing level of drug abuse. We know that we are more and more connected in a world where there are all sorts of transactions going on. "What we need to do is just make ourselves a little bit harder to do bad things in. So, I think these [law changes] are positive steps." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook
