It has updated its information for the March quarter.

It shows that over five years, 99% of KiwiSaver funds had a positive return.

But over 12 months, it was more patchy. There are now around 270 KiwiSaver funds and, of those, 143 had negative returns for the year to end of March 2020.

Of the 109 funds that had positive returns for the year to March, 25 lost 50% or more of their gross return to fees.

Funds in the higher risk growth and aggressive categories were hit hardest by the Covid-19 market falls: 92 of these funds went into negative territory, while 18 funds in this risk profile were positive for the year to March 2020.

In the balanced fund category, 39 funds were negative for one-year returns, while 16 funds were positive.

As expected, the conservative and defensive funds were mostly positive, however 12 funds in these categories were negative over the one-year period.

SuperLife’s US Large Growth Fund was a standout performer over 12 months, according to the tracker, with a return of 39.5% and fees of 0.6%. Its US 500 and US Mid Cap were the second and third-ranked for returns.

Amanah Growth rated highly for fees. It charged members 2.1%. The Lifestages Capital Stable Portfolio was also an outlier with fees of 1.8% and a return after fees of -0.2%.

The FMA said it encouraged members to look at the fees as well as the investment performance of their fund. “Returns were strong and markets were rising up to February this year, so the amounts paid in fees could have been less noticeable.”

It is expected that data for the next quarter, ending June 30, will show the rebound that has happened in the markets, beginning in early April.