Crowded KiwiSaver market sparks concern

Mercer NZ managing director Martin Lewington said he could imagine a future where KiwiSaver was offered by a few big providers with multi-sector portfolios.

A few boutique businesses would then operate alongside, differentiating themselves with very specialised offers, such as real assets or investments in New Zealand small-cap companies.

“That could be quite a good business model,” he said.

There are 28 KiwiSaver providers in the New Zealand market. The big banks have the lion’s share of the business – almost 60%, excluding the financial adviser-distributed ANZ OneAnswer scheme.