Category: MIL-Submissions

Source: New Zealand Super Fund

Average annual returns of 10.03 percent after costs over the past 20 years make the New Zealand Superannuation Fund the world’s best-performing sovereign wealth fund, according to international sovereign wealth fund experts GlobalSWF. 

GlobalSWF’s annual rankings compare the performance of 13 sovereign wealth funds and 37 pension funds from 18 countries across five continents. The NZ Super Fund’s returns for the 20 years to 30 June 2024 were well ahead of the average returns for both sovereign wealth funds (6.4 percent) and pension funds (6.8 percent).

The NZ Super Fund was also the top performing sovereign wealth fund during the past decade, with an average annualised return of 10.33 percent after costs.

NZ Super Fund CEO Jo Townsend said that over the past 20 years the Fund had significantly outperformed long-term performance expectations.

“In part, that reflects how well global equities, which presently make up about 60 percent of the Fund’s assets, have performed during that time. In addition, our active investment strategies have also outperformed both our Reference Portfolio benchmark and our long-term performance expectations,” Ms Townsend said.

Ms Townsend said the Guardians’ active investment strategies were designed to capitalise on its competitive advantages as an institutional investor, particularly its long investment horizon, operational independence, and clear and effective governance structure.

Ms Townsend said maintaining long-term, growth-oriented investment strategies through multiple market ups and downs had been central to the success of the NZ Super Fund.

The NZ Super Fund has $8 billion invested in New Zealand, including investments in forestry, agriculture and horticulture, and numerous listed and unlisted entities.

In the past year, the Fund had expanded its rural land portfolio, increased its investment in locally managed funds that provide growth capital to New Zealand businesses, and continued its involvement in various land development initiatives that will provide platforms for housing and social infrastructure.

Source: Consumer NZ

Strong returns and fewer issues helped lift sentiment, even with some investors disengaged, although that may be about to change.

“Consumer NZ’s People’s Choice award recognises products and services whose customers are highly satisfied,” says Consumer chief executive Jon Duffy.  

Results from the nationally representative annual KiwiSaver satisfaction survey highlight the strengths and weaknesses of different retirement savings scheme providers.

“KiwiSaver customer satisfaction has improved noticeably in 2025. The sector’s overall satisfaction rating climbed to 57%, up from 52% in 2024,” says Duffy.

However, the coming years will test both the trust in and communication from providers, with Trump’s tariffs serving as one example of the immediate pressures contributing to ongoing global economic uncertainty.

Returns still rule, but interest in ethical investment is growing

Performance remains the strongest driver of satisfaction in the KiwiSaver space. Good returns are behind low switching rates, but concerns persist in areas such as fee fairness, accessibility and transparency.

“Ethical investment continues to attract high interest. Many New Zealanders say they care about whether their funds are invested in undesirable sectors, but few know the details of where their money goes.  

“Many rely on trust in their provider. Around 40–50% believe providers are making genuine efforts to invest ethically, while a similar proportion remains unsure,” says Duffy.

Top KiwiSaver providers of 2025  

Customer satisfaction leaders this year were small outfits again, more agile providers, recognised for offering strong investment returns, communication, fair fees and ethical investment options.

Generate – 80%  

Milford Funds – 75%  

Simplicity – 69%  

People’s Choice standouts

Generate earned the People’s Choice award this year, for ease of access and the features of its digital platform.  

Milford Funds extended its winning streak to eight years, thanks to strong communication and customer confidence in investment returns.  

Simplicity featured for the sixth year in a row, widely praised for fee fairness and ethical focus.

Bottom of the pack – 2025’s lowest-rated providers

Larger providers continue to lag, especially in terms of measures like communication, fee satisfaction and keeping customers informed. The biggest gripe tends to be fees.

ANZ – The largest provider continues to see a decline in satisfaction year on year, with consistently poor performance on transparency and fees.

Smart – Struggles with engagement and customer support.

Mercer – Lowest-ranked overall, with concerns about service quality and value for money continuing to dominate feedback.

The Treasury staff published an analytical note in September 2024, highlighting that as New Zealand’s population ages, life expectancy increases, and fertility rates decline, there is mounting pressure to ensure retirement savings can support individuals throughout their extended retirement years. This highlights the growing importance of KiwiSaver for the financial wellbeing of New Zealanders, both now and in the future.

For these reasons, it is important that consumers engage with their investments, rather than staying passively in default schemes, to improve their returns and build greater financial security for their retirement.

About Consumer

Consumer NZ is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to championing and empowering consumers in Aotearoa. Consumer NZ has a reputation for being fair, impartial and providing comprehensive consumer information and advice.

Source: ASB

ASB is on a hiring drive to recruit 80 additional home ownership specialists as it prepares for a surge in home loan applications. 80 percent of New Zealand homeowners are expected to refix their home loan within the next year, according to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. While most of the 80 full time specialists have now been recruited, there are still some roles being advertised. The specialists will work across the bank’s in-house home ownership team and mortgage adviser-led business.

With many Kiwi having locked in short-term rates when interest rates were higher, Adam Boyd, Executive General Manager of Personal Banking says ASB is already seeing a change in customer behaviour, with people starting to fix for longer terms. “As a result of falling rates, we expect 55 percent of our home loan customers will have locked in rates under 6 percent by December this year, compared to 40 percent in March 2025.”

ASB is also simplifying its refinance process so that Kiwi coming to the end of their fixed rate term at another bank can receive a decision on moving to an ASB loan quicker and more easily. For its mortgage adviser-led business, ASB has introduced a system to improve the quality of applications being submitted so they can be processed more quickly.  

ASB was named Canstar’s 2025 Bank of the Year – Home Loans Award winner. The award recognised that ASB delivers mortgage products that combine ‘the best features with the lowest costs, plus provides great customer service at every stage of the mortgage journey’. ASB also won Canstar’s Outstanding Value Awards in four categories – Home Lender, Investment Home Lender, Fixed Home Lender, and Investment Fixed Home Lender.

“We are seeing elevated demand for our home loans. By growing our teams and enhancing our refinance process, we’ll be able to turn around applications faster, both for our customers and the mortgage advisers we work with, while continuing to deliver great service,” says Boyd.

“We continue to offer competitive pricing, having dropped fixed rate mortgages six times this year. Our one-year fixed term rate is currently joint market leading, at 4.99 percent.”

Source: Tax Justice Aotearoa

Tax reform advocacy group Tax Justice Aotearoa is calling on the Government and opposition parties to remedy the failures in our taxation system illustrated by a new report from the Centre of International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, which looks at transparency and corporate tax issues in the heavily public-funded aged care sector.

“Instead of talking about the possibility of reducing our corporate tax rate of 28 per cent, the Government should be finding ways to increase financial transparency, and ensuring that multinational corporates pay their fair share of current corporate tax by reviewing the thin capitalisation rules,” says Glenn Barclay, Chairperson of Tax Justice Aotearoa.

“This is particularly urgent where public funds are paid to multinational corporations delivering services on behalf of the government.”

The report focuses on the transparency of public funding in the aged residential care sector, and shows how our tax system allows multi-national providers to avoid paying the taxes that the public would expect them to pay, demonstrating this through the example of UK-owned BUPA.

BUPA had an average effective corporate tax rate over the past decade of only 4 per cent, much lower than the headline rate of 28 per cent, driven largely by tax-free capital gains.

In addition, the company appears to have used inter-company interest payments on a substantial loan to an Australian-incorporated BUPA company, which may have reduced taxable income by around $151m over the decade, trimming tax revenue by as much as $27 million over that period.

“This ability of multi-nationals to set up loans between subsidiary companies in different countries and then claim tax deductibility on the interest from those loans is a major issue,” says Glenn Barclay.

“While entirely legal, this ‘thin capitalisation’ is an approach that most members of the public would find questionable. It also gives multi-national players an advantage over wholly New Zealand-owned companies in competitive markets.”

“New Zealand does have thin capitalisation rules that are supposed to prevent this kind of activity, but this example shows that they are simply not strong enough,” says Glenn Barclay.

“We note that Australia and the UK have introduced a ‘fixed ratio’ test for interest payments on related party debt which limits allowable interest deductions in any one year to 30 per cent of gross earnings and this is the kind of measure that we should also seriously consider.”

“On a related matter, we note that IRD is looking at relaxing the existing thin capitalisation rules for infrastructure projects as part of its work programme agreement with the Minister of Revenue.

This could well be in the Budget and would be a big step in the wrong direction,” says Glenn Barclay. “We urge the Government not to go down this route, but instead look at tightening this provision across the economy.”

The report questions the tax exemptions in the sector for capital gains arising from revaluations of assets, which is significant given the amount of real estate that companies in the sector own.

“It seems that aged residential care providers are intentionally using the capital gains they make from selling both rights to occupy properties to new residents, and sometimes the properties themselves, as part of their income streams,” says Glenn Barclay.

“If this is true, then the current law, which says that capital gains on sales made intentionally for that purpose are taxable, should be enforced. If, for some reason, it is not enforceable, then the law should be clarified. A comprehensive tax on capital gains would resolve these issues in a much clearer way.”

The report also raises questions about the level of funding for the aged care sector and the extent to which unaccountable multi-national and other private providers should be involved in service delivery.

“The report indirectly supports the need for more funding for aged care generally as the population ages and this is yet another example of a demand for services that only a more progressive tax system that properly taxes wealth can address,” says Glenn Barclay.

Source: Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
 
Robinson Research Institute, a pioneer in high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) research, has received funding of $71million towards setting up and hosting an advanced technology platform in Future Magnetic and Materials Technologies.
 
The funding for the advanced technology platform was announced by Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Shane Reti at Robinson Research Institute’s facility in Lower Hutt, and will operate through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment-administered Strategic Science Investment Fund (SSIF) portfolio over a period of seven years.
 
In line with the objective to grow New Zealand’s hi-tech exports, the advanced technology platform will apply materials and engineering expertise across a range of sectoral themes including space, electric aviation, critical minerals and technologies for fusion energy. The platform will play a crucial role in lifting New Zealand’s innovation capacity, enabling companies to take technology to market, and in accelerating the growth of the domestic manufacturing sector.  
 
Professor Nick Long, director, Robinson Research Institute, said “It is an honour for the Institute to receive this strategic funding. At Robinson, our focus has always been on how applications of HTS can be leveraged to address real-world issues, ranging from propulsion in space to more accessible Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners. With proven capabilities in emerging areas like space and advanced aviation, Robinson is well-placed to drive growth in this area. Initially leveraging our capability in magnetics, the Institute has also developed processing methods for critical minerals from New Zealand resources. This funding will enable us to solve some problems with scaling these methods to commercial levels.”
 
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Professor Magaret Hyland is excited by the possibilities that the funding offers. “Te Herenga Waka has a strong culture of research excellence and the work that our staff undertake has impact on national and international scales.  
 
“A valued part of the University community, Robinson Research Institute has a strong track record of projects evolving into pilot projects or commercial enterprises. This new platform is a significant opportunity for Robinson to strengthen collaborations with the wider research community, in a way that delivers stronger outcomes for Aotearoa New Zealand. With an established network of research and commercialisation partnerships, within New Zealand and abroad, I can see Robinson now playing an even bigger role in enhancing New Zealand’s capabilities in advanced technology.”
 
The objectives of the platform will include developing workforce capability through internships and postgraduate study, and encouraging early career researchers to take their research beyond the laboratory. Projects from the platform will also enhance local and international research and commercial partnerships, and encourage inward investment into the New Zealand research and development sector.

Source: Peace Action Wellington

Sunday 4 May 2025 – The government has announced an additional $1 billion of military spending today on top of $12 billion of spending already announced over the next four years. These plans will take New Zealand’s annual military budget to approximately 2% of GDP.

“The budget will have the most severe cuts in decades, and yet there are billions to wage war with the United States. This is absolutely the wrong priority, and frankly I find it sickening,” said Valerie Morse, member of Peace Action Wellington.

“Clearly the money is there. It is a matter of priorities. Most New Zealanders would say their priority is a health system that is there for them if they get sick. Right now, that doesn’t exist.”

“Health NZ has just announced 1800 further job cuts. Our doctors, nurses and health care assistants are on strike demanding safe conditions in our hospitals. More than 180,000 people are waiting for their first specialist appointment, with 40% of these waiting more than 4 months. Our people are dying now. These are the real threats to life and security in this country.”

“Where is the multi-billion dollar funding to rebuild our health system? Where is the commitment to investing in broken health infrastructure and an adequate workforce? Instead what we see is a government intent on destroying the public health system, dismantling it to the point it does not function.”

“We firmly reject the entire basis of this $12 billion military spend-up. We keep getting told that the global situation is dangerous and that there are “rising tensions.” This is the US framing their agenda as our problem. It isn’t our problem. Instead, for a healthy and prosperous country, we must steer very clear of being involved with the US military and its murderous imperial adventures.”

“The US is scaremongering about China. It is in the US’s interest to pick a fight with China, to surround it and threaten it. This has absolutely nothing to do with New Zealand’s own defence and security.”