Self-managed super funds (SMSF) are a big part of the Australian superannuation market, and are the fastest growing segment.

Turnbull said 40% of the Australian sharemarket was owned directly or indirectly by superannuation monies, about ten times the amount in New Zealand. “A big part of that is the self-managed funds.”

He said he was optimistic that it was a feature of the Australian superannuation scheme that would be picked up by KiwiSaver eventually. It has been suggested that SMSFs would work well here because of the high number of people who are self-employed or running small businesses.

The KiwiSaver accounts of many New Zealanders will get a boost when Australian super funds are able to be transferred here, from the end of the month.

Turnbull said advisers should ask clients to find their taxation file number, which would enable them to track down any superannuation funds owing in Australia.  They could then take that to their KiwiSaver provider and have the money transferred here.

He said setting the capacity to cater for transtasman portability of super funds had cost ASB hundreds of thousands of dollars, as it set up systems and operations, links in Australia and compliance. It will not charge customers to transfer money.

He said there was no rush. “This isn’t a window of opportunity.”

People who had worked in Australia could transfer the money at any time.  But he said there had already been a surprising amount of interest from those interested in bringing Australian savings home.