ANZ tackles portability problems

It announced yesterday that ANZ Investments is working with the trustee of ANZ Smart Choice Super, to help New Zealanders recover their Australian super savings. It has been possible to move super savings between the two countries since last July, but few people have done so.

ANZ says its new scheme will make it much easier.

OnePath Custodians Pty Limited (trustee of ANZ Smart Choice Super) has been granted an exemption that allows people in New Zealand to open an ANZ Smart Choice Super Account in Australia. Then, it identifies money held in super accounts in that customer’s name and moves it to a single account. The customer can then choose whether to transfer the money to an ANZ KiwiSaver scheme.

It can also access money held by the Australian Tax Office (ATO), which has been very difficult for New Zealanders to get to. People with “lost” super held by the ATO have to have an Australian account to transfer it into but New Zealanders have not previously been able to set up Australian super accounts from this country.