KiwiSaver assets grow to $117.6 bill

According to research firm Morningstar’s latest KiwiSaver survey, the third quarter saw a mixed performance across the various asset classes, with some benefiting from easing inflationary pressures and softer monetary policy. Others experienced headwinds from global economic uncertainties and domestic factors.

All multi-sector funds had a positive performance in Q3, with funds’ returns ranging from 2% to 5%.

“The Kernel balanced fund has performed quite strongly, Westpac had a bounceback quarter, they’ve been a bit sluggish over three to five years and that’s come through this quarter as well,” said Morningstar Asia Pacific Data Director Greg Bunkall.

“ANZ had a bounceback quarter as well, they performed in the top five this quarter, but the numbers between the best and worst aren’t that different this quarter.”

Some provider names were prominent over the 10-year time period, he said.

“Milford, Generate and QuayStreet tend to show up quite strongly in those numbers but there seems to be a bit of clustering at the moment.”

As for market share, ANZ still leads the pack with $21.8 billion funds, ASB moves back up to second this quarter, with Fisher Funds in third, then Westpac and Milford.

Of the default funds, Fisher Funds and Westpac topped the table with the best returns of the quarter. Most of the default funds achieved 16%+ returns for the year, compared to the average conservative fund which was around 11%.

“We continue to see the balanced over one-year performing strongly compared to conservative, which is positive because we did have that change a few years ago around default options, so people sitting in default options are having a better outcome,” Bunkall said.

“BNZ default over one-year is at 18.1%, Booster default is 18.2%, Simplicity 18.1% - they’re performing strongly especially in relation to where clients would’ve been if they’d been in conservative.”