ASFONZ is celebrating 40 years in workplace savings!
“ASFONZ' 40th year of supporting workplace savings is shaping up as one of our busiest yet. Our focus for 2009 is on ensuring we make a real difference for all those with an interest in the delivery of effective long term savings outcomes for workers – including KiwiSaver. We look forward to the continuing support of our members and financial supporters in making our voice heard where it counts.” – David Ireland, ASFONZ Chair.
KiwiSaver Forums
ASFONZ kicked off the year by partnering with the IR KiwiSaver Programme Team to host two very successful KiwiSaver Forums in Wellington and Auckland. These forums provided a platform for industry participants to discuss the December 2008 legislative changes and share issues of concern among providers of KiwiSaver Schemes and Complying Super Funds regarding the efficient and effective delivery of KiwiSaver and workplace savings schemes.
Excerpt from the press release following the forums: –
“…constant rule changes since KiwiSaver was first announced have limited the industry’s ability to develop value-add enhancements for consumers.
…while the Government should not rush further changes, it does need to address concerns about some unintended consequences of changes already made, and remove anomalies from the original KiwiSaver provisions”.
The headline issues raised at the forums have been passed on to the Minister as we are hopeful that some of the anomalies will be addressed in the near future.
For the full press release - click here.
Membership for 2009
ASFONZ strives to be the peak industry body at the forefront of our ever-changing workplace savings industry. In doing so we rely heavily on the support and input from our membership.
Membership of and participation in ASFONZ strengthens our collective voice and helps to build a powerful network for the workplace savings industry.
We have recently written to you as a member, enclosing your 2009 subscription invoice with a request for you to review the data we hold about your organisation and asking you to let us know about any organisation or people changes. If you haven’t renewed your membership, please do so as soon as possible, otherwise your Membership will lapse on 31 March 2009. If your membership type or subscription category has changed, please let us know so that we can reissue your subscription invoice.
Industry Breakfasts
ASFONZ is lining up some amazing speakers for industry breakfasts this year! Keep a look out for the dates and speakers on our web site.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009 - Auckland
Northern Club, Princes Street
Presenting Adrian Orr, Chief Executive Officer, New Zealand Super Fund
Wednesday, 8 April 2009 - Wellington
The Wellington Club, 88 The Terrace
Presenting Hon. Bill English, Minister of Finance
Wednesday, 6 May 2009 – Wellington; and
Thursday, 7 May 2009 – Auckland
Presenting Dr. John McDermott, Assistant Governor & Head of Economics, Reserve Bank of NZ
Can’t make this breakfast?
New in 2009! If you are not able to make a breakfast in either Auckland or Wellington, you can now sign up to listen to the breakfast presentation live via our conference calling facility.
ASFONZ Certificate in Trusteeship
The ASFONZ Certificate of Trusteeship comprises of four half-day workshops covering:
- Introduction to Trusteeship
- Introduction to Wholesale Investing
- Advanced Investing
- Best Practice Governance
The Certificate is awarded to all those who complete the four workshops. We encourage all ASFONZ members to make completion of the ASFONZ Certificate in Trusteeship the minimum formal learning benchmark for each of their Trustees.
We invite all other Trustees and Directors of superannuation schemes, charitable trusts or incorporated societies to also make the ASFONZ Certification the minimum building block in their on-going development and education. Other professionals working in the industry will also benefit from attending this programme.
We will be offering our four Certificate workshops twice during the year. These workshops are held in Wellington, and the dates are confirmed as follows:
Intro to Trusteeship
Presented by David Ireland, Partner, Kensington Swan
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Wednesday, 11 Nov 2009
Intro to Wholesale Investing
(Details to be confirmed)
Advanced Investing
Presented by Peter Verhaart, CIO, AXA Global Investors
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Thursday 12 November 2009
Governance Best Practices
Presented by Tony Hassed, Director, Board Sense Limited
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Wednesday 11 November 2009
To register for any of these education workshops, please click on the date of the workshop.
New ASFONZ Education Course being offered in 2009
We have developed a new education workshop targeting HR professionals, employers and the employees of workplace savings providers. This workshop was piloted in November 2008 and received rave reviews!
The new workshop is called “Introduction to Workplace Savings” and covers:
- Introduction to workplace savings legislation
- Workplace savings taxation for employers
- Remuneration strategies & workplace savings
- Choosing and changing a provider
- Giving advice and promoting savings in the workplace
We will offer this new workshop nationwide at least three times during the year. We are currently confirming the dates and locations for this module. Watch our web site for the most up-to-date education information.
Spread the word amongst your work colleagues and clients. We want as many people as possible to know about this new and exciting education initiative.
Annual General Meeting
The ASFONZ 2009 Annual General Meeting will be held on:
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Wellington Club – Wellington
5.00- 7.00pm
Thursday 30 April 2009, in Auckland, we will be hosting an After 5 Function at the Northern Club from 5.00- 7.00 pm. This function will allow us to present our Annual Report to Auckland based members and thank you in person for your ongoing support as a member of the Association.
Mark these dates in your calendar.
Communication Awards 2009
Our industry-wide annual Communication Awards programme aims to recognise, promote and reward excellence and innovation in communications by all types of workplace savings scheme providers.
At our 2008 Communication Awards Ceremony last December, our guest speaker Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan sent a strong challenge out to all workplace savings providers to "develop new communication standards of tranparent, plain language and user friendly text in order to enhance consumer understanding".
Entries for the 2009 ASFONZ Communication Awards will be called for from 31 August 2009. Entries will close on 31 October 2009. This year we have changed the communication qualifying period to cover any communication undertaken/issued within the period 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009.
The 2009 Awards Ceremony will be held in Auckland on Thursday 3 December.
We challenge all Workplace Savings participants to start thinking about your entries!
Surveys
We would like to thank those who participated in the 2008 survey of Stand-Alone Super Schemes.
We have learned that excessively large surveys are counter productive. This year we will focus our survey efforts, keeping the survey short and the questions more focused on distinct areas of business.
We would like member feedback on the topic areas that you would like to see ASFONZ explore and report on, using short-form online surveys. Please email your feedback to shelley.grace@asfonz.org.nz.
Changes at the ASFONZ Secretariat
Our current Administration Assistant, Julie Tennie, will be leaving us at the end of February. We would like to thank Julie for her contribution to the ASFONZ Secretariat, and wish her well for future endeavors.
To replace Julie, we have recruited Shelley Grace. Shelley previously worked at the NZ Childcare Association where she was an Executive Assistant and their Membership Administrator. I know you will join us in welcoming Shelley to the team.
Other Events
Women In Super are hosting an Industry Breakfast with guest speaker the Hon. Patsy Wong.
Date: Thursday 2 April 2009
Venue: DLA Phillips Fox, 50-64 Customhouse Quay, Wellington
Time: 7.30 am arrival - 9.00 am finish
Cost: Members $40, Non-Members $50
For further information contact: Mel Hewitson (WiS) (04) 494 2484 or mel.hewitson@alliancebernstein.com.
Click here to register for this event online.
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