Milford KiwiSaver Plan 

There's a lot more to selecting a KiwiSaver fund than just checking past returns and fees. If your hard-earned money is invested in KiwiSaver, you need to ask the important questions to understand where and how that money is invested.

Looking for the Milford KiwiSaver Login portal?

 

Provider Name	National Capital Research Report	Login Link
Milford	Available on this page.	Milford Online Portal

If you want to check your account performance, you can do so via the Milford KiwiSaver login above. If you have any trouble signing in, here's our dedicated troubleshooting section about the Milford KiwiSaver login. 

What questions are important to Investors?

• Review of the Milford KiwiSaver Scheme
• How do Milford Funds compare to others?
• Latest news on Milford
• Who is Milford?
• Who are the people looking after my money?
• How do I know my money is safe?
• How do they decide where to invest?
• Does Milford Invest Responsibly?
• List of Milford KiwiSaver funds

Note: The following information is taken from Milford KiwiSaver Plan's own website, fund updates and the product disclosure statement published as of August 2023.

History

Milford Asset Management was formed in 2003 by an experienced group of individuals who recognised the need for an investment company that provides New Zealanders with a world-class investment partner they can trust. Brian Gaynor was one of the original founders of Milford Asset Management and has also been a board member of a number of listed and public owned entities, including the Guardians of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZ Super).

The Milford KiwiSaver Plan is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Milford Asset Management Limited. It was created to enable investors to take advantage of the investment expertise and experience of the Milford Asset Management Limited team.

The purpose that Milford shares is to grow the wealth of its clients and make a positive contribution to the community. They aim to deliver the best investment outcomes and client service.

✅  New Zealand Based Provider

Size

The Milford KiwiSaver Plan manages six funds with over 83,000 members and has total Assets Under Management (AUM) of over $5.6 Billion NZD (as of 31st Mar 2023). You can choose between funds via the Milford KiwiSaver login.

Awards

- Morningstar Overall New Zealand Fund Manager of the Year - 2021, 2022, 2023

- Consumer NZ People’s Choice Award – KiwiSaver - 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023

- CanStar Provider of the Year – Winner - 2020, 2021, 2022

- Canstar’s Outstanding Value – KiwiSaver Award - 2020, 2021, 2022

- Morningstar Fund Manager of Year: KiwiSaver - 2019, 2022, 2023

The Investment Leadership Team

Wayne Gentle - Chief Investment Officer & Executive Director

Wayne is the Chief Investment Officer at Milford and the Head of Australian Investments. He is the Co-Portfolio Manager of the Trans-Tasman Equity and Australian Absolute Growth Funds. He has more than 25 years’ experience in managing a diverse range of Australian equities portfolios.

Prior to joining Milford, Wayne was Deputy Head of Australian Equities at Colonial First State Global Asset Management. Previously, Wayne held Senior Analyst and Deputy Head of Research roles with Allianz Global Investors, and JP Morgan.

Johnathan Windust - Portfolio Manager & Deputy CIO

Jonathan is Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Portfolio Manager of the Milford Active Growth Funds (Investment Funds & KiwiSaver) and Co-Manager of the Aggressive Funds (Investment Funds & KiwiSaver).

Prior to joining Milford in 2008, Jonathan worked for Gartmore Investment Management in London where he was Portfolio Manager for the Royal Bank of Scotland Pension Scheme which had assets in excess of NZ$25bn. While at Gartmore, Jonathan was also responsible for investment strategy and investments into individual private equity funds and companies across Europe and Asia.

Prior to Gartmore, Jonathan worked for BT Funds Management, Frank Russell and the New Zealand Dairy Board (now Fonterra). Jonathan is a CFA Charterholder.

Paul Morris - Portfolio Manager & Deputy CIO 

Paul is Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager of a number of Milford Funds. He joined Milford in February 2016, and has has more than 25 years’ experience in global and Australasian financial markets.

Paul held senior fixed income roles with investment banks including Merrill Lynch and ABN AMRO in London. His experience includes debt capital markets, credit trading and interest rate derivatives trading.

Paul moved to New Zealand in 2009 and was Executive Director and Head of Debt Capital Markets at JBWere, before moving to Macquarie Private Wealth in 2010 where he was Head of Portfolio Strategy. Paul has a Master in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen’s University in Belfast.

How is the Investment Leadership Team Structured

The investment team at Milford is made up of a three-person executive team (listed in the previous section) responsible for the oversight and portfolio management of specific funds. The rest of the team is made up of thirty-five investment professionals with varying levels of experience and involvement in the analysis, management, and execution of their respective fund strategies.

Each fund within Milford is overseen by experienced professionals who are responsible for its management. The Active Growth Fund, for instance, is currently under the direction of Jonathan Windust and William Curtayne, both of whom possess extensive knowledge and expertise as portfolio managers, having amassed over 15 and 9 years of experience, respectively. Check the performance of any fund via your Milford KiwiSaver login.

Incentives/Alignment

Employees at Milford are personally invested in their funds to ensure the alignment of obtaining returns and responsible investing are matched. Milford developed a framework to illustrate Investor Rights to ensure that the way they invest is beneficial to their clients. Here is what they believe your investor rights are:

1. Trusting someone to look after your money
2. Knowing your money is managed responsibly
3. Knowing where your money is being invested
4. Knowing the value of your investments
5. Access to your investment
6. A manager that actively manages risk and return of your investment
7. Access to fair and reasonable fees

In fact, the Milford KiwiSaver login portal is very accessible and very easy to navigate. Keeping you informed seamlessly. 

All KiwiSaver Providers must ensure they meet regulatory standards and act with customer interests in mind.

KiwiSaver Scheme Managers must exercise care, diligence, and skill in the investment of scheme assets, and act in accordance with the stated investment policy and objectives. The FMA monitors that KiwiSaver Schemes are compliant with their obligations. Additionally, KiwiSaver Trustees also have a responsibility as front-line supervisors for monitoring the management and administration of these schemes. Essentially, regulatory bodies are in charge of enforcing compliance beyond what you can see through your Milford KiwiSaver login.

Milford's Custodian

A custodian plays a key role in protecting your investments. They hold your money and KiwiSaver investment (i.e. keep custody of them) on your behalf. So they are the legal holder of your assets seen through the Milford KiwiSaver login while you are the beneficial and ultimate owner.

Milford’s custodian is National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB), Australia’s largest business bank. NAB is the world’s 42nd largest financial services company with USD$49.2 billion in revenue. According to S&P Global Ratings, the bank has an AA- rating and is rated the 17th safest bank in the world by Global Finance Magazine.

Milford's Supervisor

A supervisor is a  licensed entity independent of a KiwiSaver provider that supervises the provider’s management of the scheme. KiwiSaver schemes are trusts, and (except for restricted schemes) the terms of the trust deed states that the supervisor (or another custodian) must hold all contributions and investments in trust for the investors.

Milford KiwiSaver Scheme’s supervisor is Trustees Executors Limited. Trustees Executors is a professional New Zealand Trustee Company that provides financial and trust services to individuals and the corporate sector as a Licensed Financial Markets Supervisor. Trustees Executors oversee administration and supervision of client funds totalling over NZD$210 billion.

Milford's Governance Process 

The responsible oversight body for approving and ensuring adherence to the SIPO is the Board Investment Committee (‘BIC’). The BIC meets regularly, and senior members of the Investment and Business teams attend the BIC meetings as required.

The objective of the BIC is to assist the Milford Board in discharging its responsibilities in relation to investment oversight, including the Plan’s portfolio structures, performance and risk.

An investment performance report containing the key performance considerations is presented to the BIC at each of their meetings. Performance is analysed as per the following time periods: one month, one quarter, six months, one year, three years, five years and since inception (both absolute and per annum). More frequent or specific reporting occurs if the BIC or the Milford Board believes this is appropriate given specific market or Fund developments.

In addition to regular performance reports, you can check results through your Milford KiwiSaver login. Milford’s key performance considerations can be found in their SIPO document, section six.

Investment Beliefs

Investment markets are in a state of constant change; therefore, Milford believes clients’ interests are best looked after by taking an active approach to investing. This allows them to take advantage of investment opportunities as they arise and manage risk along the way. You can also track this via your Milford KiwiSaver login.

Milford’s investment process involves conducting proprietary research. They undertake analysis of the macro-economic environment as well as fundamental analysis of the industries and individual entities within their investment universe.

Macro-Economic Analysis

Milford’s macro-economic analysis, via the monitoring and analysis of economic data, aims to identify changes to the prospects of particular asset classes and industries, including the direction of interest rates.

Fundamental Analysis

Milford’s fundamental analysis aims to identify the best opportunities within identified asset classes and industries for investment. They aim to meet with a large number of companies each year across a wide range of industries to discuss their prospects with the management of the companies.

When considering individual companies, Milford seeks to understand key value drivers for bond and share investments including; the company’s competitive position and industry structure, the strength of its balance sheet, the quality and sustainability of earnings, quality of the board and senior management, and ESG factors.

Milford’s Investment Forum meeting brings together all of their research where investment ideas are formally presented and debated for potential implementation by the Portfolio Managers. The Investment Forum aims to promote collaboration on investment decisions and leverage the extensive industry experience and knowledge, both in New Zealand and overseas, held amongst the team. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for the final selection of the securities to include within a portfolio.

Milford’s Investment Process

Here is an infographic of Milford’s investment process, obtained from their SIPO document.

Investment Monitoring

Milford empowers Portfolio Managers of individual Funds with the autonomy to make tactical asset allocation decisions within the asset allocation ranges outlined for each Fund. Portfolio Managers make these investment decisions on an active and continuous basis to improve the risk-adjusted returns of the Funds. 

They actively monitor the Funds to ensure that investment authority limits are not breached. In cases where these limits are breached, they will take action to rebalance the Fund’s portfolio in line with the authorised asset ranges. You can also actively monitor this through the Milford KiwiSaver login.

Socially responsible investing (SRI) or Environmental, Social and Governance investing (ESG), also known as sustainable, socially conscious, “green” or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social/environmental good to bring about social change regarded as positive by society.

Basically, SRI investing is investing in companies that have a positive impact on society, based on a number of factors.

Milford’s Sustainable Investment Policy

Milford incorporates Environmental, Social and Governance considerations through an integrated Sustainable Investment process. For this purpose, they have adopted the UNPRI definition of responsible investment: “A strategy and practice to incorporate ESG factors in investment decisions and active ownership”. Their formal integrated investment process applies to listed equities, listed property trusts, corporate issued debt securities, quasi-government agency debt, private debt and private equity.

Milford’s investment team conduct detailed research to understand the long-term sustainability of earnings and the risk profile of a security. Evaluating a business’ exposure to climate change and social harm, and how these risks are being managed, is an important and essential part of this comprehensive analysis.

Outside of Milford’s investment process, they are committed to making a positive social impact within the New Zealand community through their diverse sponsorship program. You can view more information about their various community partners on their sponsorship page.

Milford is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment and a member of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia.

Ethical Exclusions

As per the Milford Sustainable Investment Statement document, across all Milford funds, including their KiwiSaver funds, they will not directly invest in companies that are directly involved in the following activities:

• Production or sale of anti-personnel land mines that are not compliant with the Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Act 1998
• Production, design, testing, assembly, or refurbishment of nuclear explosive devices
• Production or development of cluster munitions
• Processing of whale meat
• Manufacture of tobacco and alternative tobacco products
• Manufacture of recreational cannabis products
• Companies involved in the manufacture of civilian automatic and semi-automatic firearms, magazines or parts

Milford can use indirect investments for market exposure and hedging purposes. They monitor the extent to which these indirect investments have exposure to companies on the Milford ESG Exclusion List with a view to ensuring the exposure is no more than 1% in aggregate across all Milford funds.

Corporate Governance & Proxy Voting

Milford is an advocate for strong corporate governance, shareholder rights, and transparency. They endeavour to exercise their proxy voting rights wherever possible and in a manner which reflects an understanding of the environmental, social, and governance impact of their investee companies.

Milford engages in proxy voting with boards and management to resolve questions, to gain an understanding of the company’s position, and to communicate Milford’s own views and expectations regarding ESG issues.