Morningstar Releases KiwiSaver Performance Survey

Good afternoon

Morningstar today released its KiwiSaver Performance Survey to 31 March 2012, designed to help New Zealand investors assess the performance of KiwiSaver superannuation options.

"Growth assets enjoyed a stellar start to 2012, and the KiwiSaver funds most invested in local and international shares and property consequently produced the strongest performances. But it would be a brave person to predict this trend to continue for the rest of the year," said Morningstar Co-Head of Fund Research Chris Douglas. "Many investors will however be able to benefit from this volatility, their regular KiwiSaver contributions enabling them to buy quality assets at temporarily lower prices, especially those with a long-term horizon for their retirement savings."

Morningstar's KiwiSaver database is free for all fund managers to join, and this survey is made freely available to investors and financial services professionals alike.

Other Key Findings

• The strong returns from sharemarkets meant that KiwiSaver funds with higher exposures to growth assets (shares and property) outperformed those with more invested in income assets (cash and fixed interest) over the March 2012 quarter.
• For the first time, the growth and aggressive funds have also been the best performers over a three-year period. Conservative funds continue to be the best-performing multi-sector options over the four years since the scheme's inception.
• Aon KiwiSaver Russell was consistently the best performer across the various multi-sector categories over the March quarter. Other providers deserving mention for top results were AXA, Mercer, and SIL KiwiSaver. The best-performing option overall for the quarter was Grosvenor KiwiSaver Trans-Tasman Small Companies Share, up 14.16 percent, although this same option was in the red over the past year with a -12.03 percent loss.
• KiwiSaver assets on the Morningstar database have grown from NZ$954.10 million at 30 June 2008 to NZ$11.26 billion at 31 March 2012, a phenomenal growth rate. OnePath and ASB remain the dominant players with 45.80 percent of KiwiSaver assets between them.
• Fees are very important because they are the one constraint in future performance results that fund managers can control. Higher fees erode performance outcomes. From this quarter we now have a consistent and robust measure of the total cost of a KiwiSaver scheme, in the Total Expense Ratio (TER), calculated according to the International Organisation of Securities Commissions standard.

ENDS

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