ASB, Kiwi Wealth, and AMP latest KiwiSaver funds to sell out of Russia

Thursday, 3 March 2022

Large bank KiwiSaver schemes own investments in Russian government bonds, and in the Putin-controlled Sberbank.

AMP, Kiwi Wealth and ASB have become the latest KiwiSaver schemes to commit to selling their investments in Russia.

They follow Westpac, ANZ and BNZ, which have all declared their savers’ money will no longer be invested in companies linked to the Russian state, or bonds issued by the Russian government.

Ben Mabon, spokesman for AMP, said: “We’re divesting Russian investments from our AMP-named funds.

“We issued sell instructions before markets opened in Europe and the US this week.”

* NZ investment funds had more than $100 million invested in Russia

People take part in a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in front of the Russian embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday, March 1.

* Why NZ Super Fund must dump Sberbank of Russia over Ukraine invasion

Mabon said AMP had very few investments in Russia, but he said: “We think it’s the right thing to do.”

While AMP controls the investments in its own KiwiSaver funds, its KiwiSaver scheme also offers savers the option of investing in funds managed by other fund managers, and Mabon said those managers would make their own decisions on whether to sell any Russian investments they own.

Mindful Money published a list of KiwiSaver funds with investments in Russia, which at the end of September last year, totalled more than $100 million.

An ASB spokeswoman said: “This week, ASB committed to removing all Russian stocks and bonds from our investment funds and we’ve begun the process of divesting.”

AMP's KiwiSaver funds are exiting their Russian investments.

The Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver scheme, said: “Yes, Kiwi Wealth is currently divesting the small amount of Russian state-owned stocks it holds, amounting to less than 0.004 per cent of our total assets under management.

“We do not hold any Russian bonds. We are currently assessing whether further action should be taken regarding the stock holdings.”

Mercer, a large KiwiSaver manager, which also runs the New Zealand Defence Force KiwiSaver KiwiSaver scheme, has not yet confirmed it is divesting any Russian investments it owns.

KiwiSaver providers started coming under pressure to exit their Russian investments as sanctions were imposed by the EU, UK and US against Russia, and its banks, and media reports revealed the extent of KiwiSaver and government investment funds’ exposure to investments in Russia.

The global index providers, which provide the benchmarks many KiwiSaver schemes invest against, are also beginning to remove Russia from their indexes.

New Zealand’s government wealth funds are all selling investments linked to the Russian government.

The NZ Super Fund, Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) and National Provident Fund (NPF) have agreed to cease investing in bonds issued by Russia, and the shares of most Russian state-owned enterprises.

Russia is attempting to block asset sales by foreign investors, but the four investors said they would sell their assets as market conditions permitted.