Therese Singleton. Photo / Jason Oxenham
When Therese Singleton first moved to New Zealand, she felt she had come to the "banana republic" of retirement savings.
The Irish lawyer who moved here with her Kiwi husband in 2002 found herself in a country with a shrinking finance industry and no tax incentives to save for retirement.
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"I arrived in New Zealand to very little opportunity," she says. If a job at AMP hadn't come up, she probably would have left the country.
Singleton joined AMP in 2003 as part of its legal team and was promoted to its legal counsel in 2008.
Since then she has led the merger of AMP's business with former rival AXA.
Now Singleton is in charge of investments and insurance, including its KiwiSaver business.
AMP is New Zealand's third largest KiwiSaver player, after ANZ and ASB, managing more than $3.7 billion of KiwiSaver money.
But the banks are slowly grabbing more of the KiwiSaver market as members are drawn by the ease of having all their finances in one place.
Singleton is at the forefront of getting the AMP brand noticed.
Last year she fronted a Facebook video campaign talking about insurance with The Block's Peter Wolfkamp.
The passionate talker says her drive for savings and insurance comes from personal experience.
If all you can manage is $5 a week then that continual habit of saving will be the key to your success.
"My father died when I was young," she says. "We were able to continue our education into our 30s because of his life insurance.
"I had a warm and fuzzy feeling around what it could do for a family." One of the biggest challenges for KiwiSaver providers, says Singleton, has been connecting with members.
Past AMP customers were more likely to be over 45 years old, but many KiwiSaver members are in the 18-to-35 age group.
Singleton says AMP has launched a KiwiSaver app and is trying to reach that group through social media sites like Facebook.
AMP has also upgraded its website so customers can do more digitally, but KiwiSaver members still have to call up to switch funds.
"We are finding 75 per cent still want to talk to somebody. The customer still wants comfort and an answer to [the question] are they doing the right thing?"
Singleton says KiwiSaver is complex and levels of financial literacy remain low in New Zealand, but getting advice is a challenge as people do not want to pay, and KiwiSaver does not allow them to pay for advice out of their savings.
"It would be great for there to be a solution for how advisers get paid." For now, her key message to KiwiSavers is to just keep saving. "If all you can manage is $5 a week then that continual habit of saving will be the key to your success."
Position: AMP general manager investments and insurance
• Oversees $3.88 billion in KiwiSaver funds (as of December 31).
• Age: In her 40s.
• Married with two children.
• Lives in: Auckland but originally from Ireland.
• Education: Law degree from University College Dublin.
• Career: With AMP since 2003 and appointed general counsel in 2008. Admitted as an Irish solicitor in 1994, as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1995, and as a solicitor and barrister in New Zealand in 2002.
Career highlight
Sponsoring the delivery of the AMP Pathways Programme - a specific programme developed to focus on the particular needs of senior females in the organisation, which is currently on its third intake of members. The programme is hugely successful and allows the participants to work on themselves in a safe, open environment.
Toughest thing
Moving to another country with no experience or networks and starting from scratch in my career.
Best advice
Ever tried ever failed, try again, fail again, fail better (Samuel Beckett, Irish playwright).
Dream holiday weekend
Anywhere in the Coromandel with my husband and 2 kids sleeping lots, eating great food and a fridge full of NZ wine (for me, not the kids).
Reading
The Luminaries is burning a space on my bedside locker.
I never seem to have enough energy to finish it.
Ana-Marie Lockyer knows so much about KiwiSaver that her boss calls her Mrs KiwiSaver and she calls the scheme "her baby".
The head of wealth products and marketing at ANZ Bank, Lockyer manages the country's largest KiwiSaver scheme by membership. With 690,000 savers signed up, ANZ has about 28 per cent of the KiwiSaver market.
"Without a doubt it's a privilege to manage 690,000 members' money but it's also a responsibility we take very seriously," she says.
Lockyer says many people don't make the most of the scheme. "What I see is a lot of people in KiwiSaver - and that is great ... [but it's not enough] where we can help, is to help them work out how to get a comfortable retirement and a house along the way."
Lockyer knows that for many people retirement is a long time away but she says it's important they think about it early.
She explains it to her children in a simple way. "It's about putting money away so you can give yourself pocket money when you stop working."
KiwiSaver is my little baby - it is something new to New Zealanders which most New Zealanders are now part of.
Growing up in Auckland, Lockyer says she learned the savings habit early and knew from 13 that she wanted to be an accountant.
"I was the only kid in class whose trial balance balanced." The dux and head girl of Orewa College had already joined a graduate scheme before she finished studying accounting at Otago University.
But after three years in the job, she wasn't so sure accounting was for her and left for London on the typical Kiwi OE.
Lockyer spent 10 years working overseas, much of it for global asset management firm Hendersons, before returning to New Zealand weeks after the birth of her second child. Like many returning Kiwis, she wanted her children to experience a New Zealand upbringing of bare feet and beaches.
She spent four years at home with her children - three girls - before coming back to work, first at ING in a strategy role, and then at ANZ.
"It was good to give me an overview of where New Zealand was at. It was just after KiwiSaver had started." Just over two years ago she moved into the general manager role where she "looks after a million New Zealander's wealth needs", including insurance and other managed funds outside of KiwiSaver. As part of the role she helps ANZ design and develop products, heading a team of 45 people.
"KiwiSaver is my little baby - it is something new to New Zealanders which most New Zealanders are now part of." Lockyer has also been an advocate for encouraging more women to save for their futures.
Women face multiple challenges, from pay inequality, to taking time out of the workforce to have a family and then working part-time, which result in lower retirement savings.
"There is not one solution that will sort it out." She says the answers have to come both personally - through looking after yourself - with provider education and employers offering better flexibility for working women.
ANZ this year became the first New Zealand company to continue paying KiwiSaver while an employee takes parental leave. "All of those things are small parts. You can't say to people they have to work full-time."
Position: General manager, wealth products and marketing at ANZ bank.
• Oversees $7.95 billion in KiwiSaver funds (as of December 31).
• Married with three children.
• Age: Early 40s.
• Education: Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting), MBA.
Career highlight?
When I was given responsibility for ANZ's KiwiSaver business and looking after the retirement savings of more than 600,000 customers.
This later expanded into also helping customers protect their wealth through insurance solutions.
Toughest thing ever done?
My first half-marathon (a long time ago).
Best advice ever given?
Don't be busy ... Be brilliant!
Favourite way to relax?
Family time - in the spa or on the beach.
Dream holiday weekend?
Somewhere with sun, sand, a good book and no phone reception.
What are you reading?
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler.
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