Craigs schemes get rebrand

Craigs Investment Partners is renaming both its KiwiSaver schemes in a bid to improve clarity for consumers.

Wednesday, September 21st 2016, 6:00AM

by Susan Edmunds

Craigs has announced it is to repackage its kiwiSTART Defined KiwiSaver scheme as QuayStreet KiwiSaver.

Quay Street will take over as the named manager of the fund from Craigs Investment Partners Superannuation Management, but the underlying product, and the funds it invest in remain unchanged.

The scheme already only invests in QuayStreet funds – the fund manager is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Craigs Investment Partners.

Craigs’ KiwiStart Select product is also being rebranded, as Craigs Investment Partners KiwiSaver.

It allows investors to pick and choose the securities their funds invest in.

Craigs head of client services Stephen Jonas said: “There’s fundamentally no change in the style and nature of the product offered but it should be much clearer in the marketplace what it is and who is offering it.”

He said the new names should be in place in the market by December 1.

Jonas said his firm was also working to launch a new superannuation scheme and hoped to have the new QROPS offering in the market by December 1, too.

It will offer self-selected portfolio construction and the firm is developing a new platform to make it easier for investors to access a broader range of securities.

But he said more clarity was still needed on what could be done about people who had transferred money to a KiwiSaver scheme before they all lost their QROPS status. That money is now effectively locked into the schemes it was transferred to, because it cannot be moved without incurring a tax bill.

“If you transfer that money you breach the HMRC rules [in Britain] but if you don’t, you breach the KiwiSaver Act. We are asking for clarification on that."

Tags: Craigs Investment Partners KiwiSaver