Researcher outlines NZ plans

The fund research market is about to get more crowded when a new entrant releases its first ratings of New Zealand fund managers later this year.

Tuesday, March 18th 2014, 6:00AM

by Niko Kloeten

Australian firm SuperRatings signalled its intention to enter the New Zealand market last year, focusing on the fast-growing KiwiSaver market.

SuperRatings chief executive Nathan McPhee confirmed the first public ratings would be out in a few months, adding that the company had already spent a fair amount of time reviewing KiwiSaver since last year.

This included meeting with all major providers, collecting quantitative and qualitative information, conducting site visits of administration and services and meeting with regulators.

“SuperRatings’ approach is to develop a deep understanding of the market, identifying strengthens and weaknesses of the system and individual providers,” he said.

“We aim to do this in a consultative way so our commitment to the schemes was that we would provide feedback on our findings privately in our first year, before we made public comment.

“We intend to conduct another review this year, building upon our first and will include public disclosure of our outcomes and ratings.”

SuperRatings was planning to conduct its next review in the middle of the year, McPhee said.

“This will provide sufficient time for end of financial year analysis, due diligence meetings and production of research reports. We envisage these will be publically available around July.”

McPhee said SuperRatings had a unique approach that didn’t look just at fees or investments, but included other aspects such as administration, education and advice and governance.

He said SuperRatings didn’t charge managers to be researched, but companies could subscribe to ratings logos for promotional purposes if they wanted.

“In addition to aiding consumers identify the best schemes for their needs, we help schemes improve their own product and services to lift standards across the entire industry.

Niko Kloeten can be contacted at niko@goodreturns.co.nz

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