Canstar unveils new KiwiSaver Award

24 September 2018

Financial comparison site Canstar has launched a new award designed to make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions about their KiwiSaver options.

Explaining the rationale behind the new Canstar Outstanding Value – KiwiSaver Scheme Award, Canstar general manager, Jose George said:

“The rationale behind everything we do at Canstar is consumer education and helping people to make informed decisions. Our traditional methods of researching and comparing the KiwiSaver market had until know been focused at individual fund level, giving specific ratings on a scale of between one and a maximum five stars. Where this is useful, it doesn’t reflect that consumers discussions around KiwiSaver often start at a more general scheme or provider level, so to help in the early stages of decision making, we’ve introduced this additional, overarching award.

“Our new Outstanding Value Award, has been developed to represent the strongest and most consistent scheme or schemes, in terms of price, features and returns, across Balanced, Conservative and Growth profiles, which we hope will give consumers an additional level of confidence when they are researching their KiwiSaver options.”

Outstanding Value
For Canstar inaugural KiwiSaver scheme award we are pleased to recognise two schemes as winners (in alphabetical order):

The ASB KiwiSaver Scheme has been recognised for some of the lowest fees across the Balanced profiles and are price leaders for the Growth profile[1]. Over the previous five-year period, annual returns are consistently within the top quartile of the market and the scheme also scores highly for the ease and convenience of setting up an account as well as online information and call centre access.

In accepting the award, ASB general manager wealth, Jonathan Beale, said:
“We’re incredibly proud of being acknowledged by Canstar for our commitment to ASB customers and for being applauded too for our focus on lowfees while delivering consistent top quartile investment performance. The team at ASB really is passionate about being the best and making sure our customers are benefiting from ASB KiwiSaver and achieving retirement savings goals. It’s rewarding to be recognised not just for what we offer in a financial sense, but also for the guidance and advice we offer alongside our digital functionality which lets customers be actively involved with their KiwiSaver, how and when it suits them.”

The second recipient of Canstar’s Overall Value Award is Milford KiwiSaver Plan.

Maintaining its previous years across the board five-star ratings, Milford KiwiSaver Plan has retained the position as performance leader across all profiles considered within the award. Over the most recent five-year period, annual returns have been consistently within the top quartile of the market although performance fees on some funds have impacted fees overall. Online access to information and publications, investment statements, fund specifics and the ability to update account details, also scored highly.

Milford’s CEO, Troy Swann accepted the award:

“We’re delighted to be recognised for helping our clients achieve better investment outcomes. We have one of the largest and most globally experienced investment teams in the country who actively work to uncover the very best investment opportunities. In addition, all of our employees invest their own money in the same KiwiSaver funds as our clients. This unique approach is why our Active Growth Fund is the #1 performing KiwiSaver fund, returning 13% p.a. since the inception of KiwiSaver back in 2007.”

[1] considered within Canstar’s price scenarios

ENDS

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