AUCKLAND, New Zealand - New Zealand’s credit unions have raised objections to a newspaper’s analysis that suggests a credit union-backed retirement savings product is not the good deal credit unions say it is.
The Business Herald said it used the KiwiSaver fee calculator provided by the country’s Retirement Commission to examine the benefits of the various retirement products available to New Zealanders and concluded that the credit union product was among the most expensive and highest-risk funds available to savers.
“It can’t be right,” said a representative for the credit union program, Fidelity Life. “We had a look at our fee structure compared to others and to us it looked quite reasonable.” The credit union rep expressed concern that other providers of KiwiSaver products were not disclosing all of their costs.
A spokesperson for the Retirement Commission told local media outlets that it had gone through an extensive process to check the information with providers, including going back to each provider for data confirmation prior to launching its model and revealing its findings to the public.
