[Weekly Wrap] Golden reign of KiwiSaver

KiwiSaver seems to be the topic of the week on the back of the news that in April there were a record number of sign-ups. This was no surprise as April was the month that compulsory employer contributions started.

Friday, May 9th 2008, 4:50PM

One question I get asked is this: Has KiwiSaver been a success? The answer is yes. Tell me another product in New Zealand which has signed up 600,000 customers in its first 10 months.

Also this week, a piece of "research" was put out by a right-wing think tank bagging KiwiSaver. More comment on this is in today's Blog.

KiwiBaggers scrapping Savers
It's getting harder and harder to ignore KiwiSaver as the months roll on. Currently 600,000 people have signed up – two thirds more than predicted than when it started 10 months ago. [more]

The other angle to KiwiSaver is the latest funds flow figures which Good Returns reports on. These show that without money coming in from KiwiSaver the managed funds industry would be looking a little sad.

As Good Returns reported a couple of weeks ago, George Gould is looking likely to pick up the Vestar business from MFS. I see other media are picking up on this story now too.

The Good Returns Insurance News section continues to deliver risk advisers a wealth of news, including Russell Hutchinson's latest comment piece and a couple of items about happenings in the health insurance market. If you would like to be a chief executive of a health insurance firm then check out this ad.

An earlier Blog this week talked about changes going on in adviser land including comments on mortgage brokers moving into the life insurance market. Have a read of the Blog and readers' comments here.

Over in the home loan space it is pretty hard to keep up with the changes. It seems there is something new every week. During this week we have seen Bluestone stop distributing its home equity release product through advisers, Pacific and Tasman Home Loans have disappeared and many non-bank lenders have followed ANZ National's lead and increased their variable rates 25 points, although the Reserve Bank has left the OCR unchanged.

For investment advisers we have our regular monthly commentary on investment markets with London-based economist Andrew Hunt discussing whether the credit crunch is over, and questions whether inflation is now the worry. Have a read here.

In People we have news of a new appointment at Marac.

Our key Deposit Rates news this week is the Securities Commission saying that it expects prosecutions to be made over finance company collapses and an update from the Reserve Bank of the size of these collapses. Have a read at www.depositrates.co.nz.

The Great Tax Crackdown

The cover story of NZ Property Investor this month looks into The Great Tax Crackdown, where the IRD is claiming over $100 million in unpaid taxes from property transactions and is on a mission to find it. We look at how this could affect you and what you need to do if the IRD comes knocking. [more]