Economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan is
confident Kiwibank will uphold the values of his namesake KiwiSaver
scheme - but if it fails to, he won't hesitate to withdraw his own
investment.
The state-owned New Zealand Post subsidiary announced
on Wednesday it will buy Gareth Morgan Investments for an undisclosed
sum, to act as the cornerstone of its wealth management unit.
GMI
has $1.5 billion under management and more than 57,000 clients, using
internal facilities, chief executive Paul Brock told reporters in
Wellington.
GMI will operate as a standalone business, with Dr
Morgan and fellow principal Andrew Gawith remaining as directors, along
with two Kiwibank appointments.
Dr Morgan told Radio New Zealand he decided to sell because the business had grown too big.
"It was just sucking up too much of my time," he said.
"Despite putting in senior management ... I'd lie awake at night worrying about where it was going or what we should do next."
He
says the best part about the sale is that Kiwibank shares his company's
values - such as transparency standards, including the use of the
Global Investment Performance Standards and avoiding the pooling of
investment funds to let clients see exactly where their money is.
"The fact that our values have aligned with Kiwibank's makes me very happy indeed," he said.
"I
couldn't believe it really, an institution saying `we align with those
and we will honour them'. And I said to them `you better honour them,
because if you don't, the clients will walk because that's why they're
here'."
Similarly, Dr Morgan says he won't hesitate to withdraw his own investment either, "and you will know about it".
However, he is confident such an action won't be needed.
GMI has some $650 million in KiwiSaver funds, and the tie-up will make Kiwibank about the sixth biggest player in the market.
NZN