Purpose and mandate
By serving its mandate, the Fund adds to Crown wealth, improves the ability of future governments to pay for superannuation and reduces the tax burden of the cost of superannuation on future generations of New Zealanders.
Our purpose is:
Kia toitū te haumi hei hua mā ngā tāngata katoa o Aotearoa
Sustainable investment delivering strong returns for all New Zealanders
Watch a short animated video explaining our purpose.
The challenge
Statistics New Zealand projects that New Zealand's population will continue to age over the coming decades. The number of people aged 65 and over is expected to grow significantly, while the proportion of people of working age is expected to become smaller.
This means there will be more people receiving New Zealand Superannuation and relatively fewer taxpayers contributing to the cost of it.
An ageing population will increase pressure on government spending, including not only New Zealand Superannuation, but also health, education, welfare and other public services.
Legislation
In response to the challenge of New Zealand's ageing population, the NZ Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 established:
- the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, a pool of assets on the Crown’s balance sheet; and
- the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, a Crown entity charged with managing the Fund.
The Government uses the Fund to save now in order to help pay for the future cost of providing universal superannuation. In this way the Fund helps smooth the cost of superannuation between today's taxpayers and future generations.
The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation is the Crown entity charged with managing and administering the Fund. It operates by investing initial Government contributions – and returns generated from these investments – in New Zealand and internationally, in order to grow the size of the Fund over the long term.
NZ Super Fund Performance Since Inception
The above graph shows the growth in the size of the Fund since investing began in 2003. It illustrates the impact of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008/09 and the COVID-19 crisis in 2019/20, and the subsequent recovery in the value of the Fund. Between 2009 and 2017 Government contributions to the Fund were suspended.
Mandate
Under the NZ Superannuation and Retirement Income Act, the Guardians must invest the NZ Super Fund on a prudent, commercial basis and, in doing so, must manage and administer the Fund in a manner consistent with:
- best-practice portfolio management;
- maximising return without undue risk to the Fund as a whole; and
- avoiding prejudice to New Zealand’s reputation as a responsible member of the world community.
In 2019 the Government entrusted the Guardians with an additional mandate. The Mandate, known as Elevate NZ Venture Fund was launched in March 2020 and was established under the Venture Capital Fund Act 2019. The Elevate NZ Venture Fund exists to support the development of New Zealand’s early-stage growth companies and venture capital ecosystem.
Constraints
While our legislative mandate gives us considerable freedom to invest the Fund how we see fit, there are some important constraints and restrictions in place.
Legislative constraints
- Except with the permission of the Minister of Finance, the Guardians are not permitted to borrow, mortgage the Fund's property, or to place a liability or contingent liability on the Fund or the Crown;
- The Minister of Finance can give directions to the Guardians regarding the Government’s expectations as to the Fund’s performance, including the Government’s expectations as to risk and return. The Minister cannot give a direction that is inconsistent with the Guardians’ duty to invest the Fund on a prudent, commercial basis, and cannot direct the Guardians in regard to any other matter.
Board-imposed controls
Our Board-approved investment policies place further controls over the Guardians' management of the Fund. These controls include restrictions on:
- single asset concentration (e.g. one company)
- concentration with one investment manager
- actual portfolio risk.