Do Kiwis know where KiwiSaver funds invested?
Dr Matheson Russell, a senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Auckland, spoke at the 2014 New Zealand Responsible Investment Briefing last week.
He said he would conduct research over the next six to 12 months to find out what New Zealanders thought about responsible investing, and whether they would rather their KiwiSaver investments were not in tobacco, arms, labour exploitation, nuclear energy, gambling, pornography and fossil fuel extraction.
At present, about $45 million of the $22 billion in KiwiSaver is in socially responsible funds.
“Responsible investing is seen as a fringe thing in the investment industry at large. Mum and dad investors, the ordinary workers who now have money in managed funds through KiwiSaver, think about their investment portfolios differently to investors. I have a sense that a lot of New Zealanders would feel uncomfortable about their money being invested in, for example, tobacco, pornography or gambling. They may be surprised that they have investments in these things through KiwiSaver.”
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