Shamubeel Eaqub will take up the role of Chief Economist and Head of Policy for the KiwiSaver scheme and fund manager and will also be joined by economist and policy researcher Rosie Collins.

Shamubeel is a former Principal Economist for the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, runs his own consultancy and is a business columnist, commentator and author.

Simplicity Managing Director Sam Stubbs said KiwiSaver is the most significant initiative, from any political party, in the last 20 years.

“It will help shape New Zealand, and getting the best out of the hundreds of billions Kiwis will save in KiwiSaver is going to be critical for our future.”

“Just look at how superannuation savings have transformed Australia. They have five times our population, but 35 times our retirement savings,” said Mr Stubbs.

Shamubeel Eaqub’s focus will be on building Simplicity’s policy influence in areas like KiwiSaver, housing, infrastructure and capital markets.

“The growing pool of savings can be better directed towards addressing critical needs, such as housing, infrastructure, and business growth capital - areas where we think KiwiSaver investment overall is largely untapped,” said Shamubeel Eaqub.

“With KiwiSaver, we can start by advocating to make it easier for more people to contribute—last year, 32 percent of Kiwis didn’t.”

He said it was important to increase savings over time - with New Zealanders currently contributing only 6 percent and Australians tracking to reach 12%,” said Mr Eaqub.