There is a lot of concern about Russian investments in KiwiSaver accounts, so we wanted to outline what we have invested, and what our plan is for these investments.

Our holdings of Russian Government debt are very small. For example, on a $50,000 investment in our KiwiSaver Growth Fund, the total holdings of Russian Government debt would be $15, i.e. 0.03%.

However, it’s the principle that matters, and here’s what we are doing about it.

The debt is held in an International Bond Fund run by Vanguard, and the holdings in that fund are benchmarked to a Bloomberg MSCI investment grade ethical index. Bloomberg MSCI needs to change the index, then the holdings will be sold.

We have been speaking to Vanguard directly to impress on them the urgency of the situation and we have a very high degree of confidence that this will happen. 

And in any event, Russian Government debt is no longer investment grade, so must be removed anyway. 

As a KiwiSaver and fund manager that has ethics at its core, this matters to us, and we are taking all necessary steps to remove all Russian investments from all our funds.

If you have any further questions please get in touch info@simplicity.kiwi

Team Simplicity