Samantha Barrass: FMA chief executive on the decrease in Kiwi workers contributing to their KiwiSavers

The cost of living crisis is hitting New Zealanders hard, with many putting retirement savings on the backburner.

The number of people contributing to KiwiSaver fell for the first time in the year to March 2025, according to the Financial Markets Authority’s annual KiwiSaver report.

FMA chief executive Samantha Barrass says these difficult circumstances have forced people to make 'difficult choices' about what to prioritise. 

She explained more households need to decide between putting food on the table, paying the mortgage and repairs - and it's important for providers to reach out to people who've paused KiwiSaver contributions. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The number of people contributing to Kiwi Saver has declined
for the first time this year. Thirty percent of working
age key We Saver members are now not putting money
in now. That was only twenty percent fifteen years ago.
Samantha Barriss is the chief executive of the Financial Markets Authority. Hey, Samantha, Hi, Heather,
that seems to me like that would be directly linked
to the cost of living problem that we have at
the moment. Do you think it is.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's certainly a very strong contributing factor. There are three
reasons why people aren't contributing even though they are of
working age. The first is one that's enduring, which is
those who take time out for parenting duties to be
with their children. But the other two are related to
the economic times. The first is they're unemployed, which increases

(00:44):
in difficult economic times, and the second is saving suspensions
when kiwis who are under in difficult circumstances are needing
to make choices between do they contribute to Keysaver, do
they put food on the table, do they pay them
more gifts? Do they get the car fixed? So, though
you know other other reasons so directly related to the

(01:05):
difficult economic times.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Once people opt out, though, do they do they even
necessarily come back in.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
The challenge. And this is something that the kisaver providers
need to really lean into, but we all need to
lean into it as well. Is to go back to
those who have suspended their contributions on a regular basis
and encourage them, encourage them to increase the contributions that

(01:36):
they are or to kind of go back in and
start contributing again. And that is that that's a very
important flex point. So yes, Kiwi Savor has been built
to withstand the longer term ups and downs in the
economic cycle. The critical point is that you're coming out
of a down cycle to be communicating really regularly with

(01:57):
your members to encourage them to come back into it again.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Samantha, thank you so much, Samantha Barris, chief executive of
the FMA. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
live to News Talks it B from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.