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A few months after the New Zealand Superannuation or "Cullen" Fund copped criticism for investing in industries such as armaments, alcohol and tobacco, the Government is moving to ensure KiwiSaver funds are not put into "vice" stocks without investors' knowledge.
In his Budget speech on Thursday, Cullen said the Government had agreed that KiwiSaver providers would be required to disclose their "approach to responsible investing".
"It is also intended that a joint working party with scheme provider representatives will be set up to develop guidelines on responsible investing."
Yesterday a spokesman for Cullen said the Government would not seek to restrict the type of investments made by scheme providers on behalf of KiwiSaver clients, it was just requiring disclosure, "so people can make their own judgments".
Further details on the responsible investment policy would be given when the terms of reference for the working party were released.
AMP chief investment officer Leo Krippner said Cullen's Budget speech was the first he'd heard of the plan.
"Obviously being one of the default providers and the biggest fund manager in New Zealand we'll be wanting to respond to this.
"Were they to come out with guidelines for what they considered SRI's [socially responsible investments] we'd be quite relaxed about that."
AMP already provides socially responsible investments to two wholesale clients in New Zealand. "In practice it doesn't lead to any restriction on the stocks we can invest in."
