The Big Banks robbing hard saving Kiwis of their retirement funds? These banksters have no conscience, that’s for sure.
Report from Radio NZ:
Default settings on KiwiSaver funds have given $1billion to banks instead of savers and an unnecessary $70million to the taxman over the past six years, according to a group of financial advisors.
The group have sent an open letter to the Financial Markets Authority and the Reserve Bank asking them to reform the rules so KiwiSavers’ funds were not left to languish in low-yielding default plans.
Group spokesperson John Cliffe said 400,000 KiwiSavers automatically assigned to conservative funds had lost out.
He said the big five Australian-owned banks benefited from KiwiSavers staying in conservative accounts, because the banks held investments in their own and each other’s securities, and charged management fees on those arrangements.
However, an ANZ spokesperson denied it makes more money from people in conservative funds.
In March, about 35 percent of the $4.6 billion in default funds were invested in big banks ASB, ANZ, BNZ, Westpac and insurer AMP.
Mr Cliffe told Nine to Noon the default funds were supposed to be temporary holding places and the big banks benefited from keeping people in conservative funds…
