Changes to KiwiSaver reports

The government is proposing changes to KiwiSaver fund reporting to help members better understand their funds

Wednesday, October 10th 2012, 1:13PM 3 Comments

by Susan Edmunds

The public will get a chance to have a say on proposed new rules for reporting of KiwiSaver funds.

Commerce Minister Craig Foss said the rule change, signalled in this year’s budget, would help investor confidence.

KiwiSaver schemes would be required to report information on returns, fees and costs, assets and portfolio holdings, liquidity and liabilities, and key personnel.

That will be done through five disclosure statements per provider, per year, including a disclosure statement relating to the tax year and four shorter statements relating to to the 12 months preceding the end of each quarter of the tax year.

Foss said: "At the moment, it is difficult for KiwiSaver members to make direct comparisons between funds. This is the next step in continuing to improve investor confidence in the financial sector. It is imperative that KiwiSaver providers offer transparent information for investors.”

He said consistent reporting would allow investors to make better comparison.

Submissions close November 5.

« Savings confidence drops despite KiwiSaver growth

FMA confirms RFAs can sell KiwiSaver »

Special Offers

Comments from our readers

On 11 October 2012 at 10:13 am Why? said:

Why 5 statements? I don't get that at all. Isn't this just adding extra compliance and cost to the product? And who will ultimately end up paying for that? I'm all for disclosure that allows more accurate comparison, but why not have an annual disclosure statement for the YE 31 March, and then 3 shorter statements as at 30 June, 30 September and 31 December? I'm pretty sure that's what the banks are required to do at the moment in terms of their disclosure.

On 11 October 2012 at 1:06 pm w k said:

@why? 'cos that's part of job creation. and someone has to pay these chaps for these newly "created" jobs, hence, income is "created" via compliance cost to fund their income.

on comparing funds: past performance is no guarantee to future performance.

On 11 October 2012 at 6:04 pm traveller said:

Short termism rules! Here we go again.We try to encourage investors to plan long term for their retirement and then we bombard them with short term statistics which will only encourage some to regular switching which will cost them money.

Sign In to add your comment