Huljich pulls KiwiSaver statement

KiwiSaver provider Huljich Wealth Management has withdrawn its investor statement for its retirement fund after concerns were raised about reporting of historical investment returns.

Huljich, which is chaired by former National leader Don Brash and has Auckland City mayor John Banks on its board, said in a statement on its website that the amendments would make no difference to members' returns and would not affect previously reported returns for its three KiwiSaver funds, which currently have over $117 million invested on behalf of more than 70,000 members.

Managing director Peter Huljich said the amendments would clarify that some income was not investment income, but funds contributed by him personally on two occasions in 2008 and 2009 as compensation for investing overweight or not diversified to the extent required.

The events arose in the early days of the funds, partly due to their small size at the time, he said.
Mr Huljich said he contributed $8573 for the six months to March 31, 2008 and $141,535 for the 12 months to March 31, 2009.

"I provided compensation because I felt morally responsible for the two particular investment decisions, which proved disappointing. I believed compensation was in the best interests of our members.

"There was no intention of boosting the performance of the funds through these transactions."

Subsequent analysis shows that if these payments had not been made, the growth fund would still have been the top performing fund in its category in the year ended March 31, 2009, the conservative fund would have been second in its category and the balanced fund would have been fourth in its category, he said.

The KiwiSaver scheme would also have retained its overall first ranking for that year, based on average rankings across the three categories, he said.

The Securities Commission said it welcomed Huljich's move and the company was cooperating while it sought further information on certain transactions and their disclosure.

At this stage there was no indication that investors have lost any money as a result of the disclosure issues, the commission said.

Until the prospectus was registered no new memberships would be offered.

- NZPA