KiwiSavers’ default

Pressure is mounting on the Government to change the default setting for KiwiSaver from conservative to either a balanced fund or life stages approach which would place an investor in a fund based on their age.

A group of independent financial advisers have warned the Government that some 400,000 Kiwis are sitting in conservative default funds which are not designed for longterm retirement saving.

The Government has said it will begin a review of the default providers from next year with a particular focus on fees and could look at this as part of it.

Any shift from conservative to balanced or growth funds would be a potential positive for the New Zealand sharemarket with more money set to go into equities.

Chapman Tripp lawyer Roger Wallis believes a change could have a “profound impact” on the local market but he is worried that market might not be big enough to handle it.

“One of the bigger issues is if the New Zealand market is deep enough,” he told Stock Takes.

New listings have been very thin on the ground this year although there has been a fair amount of equity raisings from existing listing companies.

The default provider review is not