ASB a market leader with KiwiSaver members

More than 150,000 people, around 20% of the KiwiSaver customer base, are saving for their retirement through either the ASB KiwiSaver or the FirstChoice KiwiSaver scheme.

The 100,000 milestone was reached in May and in the past four months, membership in the two schemes administered by ASB Group Investments has surged by more than 50% to 150,000.

Greg McAllister, Head of Wholesale Distribution at ASB Group Investments says the ASB KiwiSaver scheme would be the single largest scheme in New Zealand based on number of members and there are some clear indicators why people are choosing ASB.

"Apart from ASB KiwiSaver offering some of the lowest fees in the market, this inflow is because we make it extremely easy to understand and sign up, or switch from another provider. In these times when money is tight and saving is difficult, it's a very compelling option."

Greg McAllister says people are increasingly understanding the benefits of KiwiSaver and coming to the conclusion that this is a sound long term retirement savings vehicle.

"We've got dedicated staff to help explain how KiwiSaver works and we have invested heavily in market leading material to help New Zealanders with their retirement savings decisions. Evidence of this is the acknowledgement we received at the prestigious WriteMark NZ Plain English Awards. At these awards we won Best Plain English Document (private sector) for the ASB KiwiSaver "It all stacks up" brochure/sales tool which has helped over 12,000-plus KiwiSavers sign up each month with ASB since May.

"When ASB was selected by the Government as the only bank to be a default provider, we had one goal in mind – to be the leading provider in the market. These latest figures confirm that position."