Are industry awards just a pat on the back, or should they be genuinely considered when choosing a KiwiSaver provider? In this episode of Bridge talks Business, we’re joined by Murray Harris to discuss Milford’s latest KiwiSaver award wins from Canstar, including Provider of the Year and Outstanding Value KiwiSaver Scheme. Murray shares what these awards recognise, why they matter when choosing a KiwiSaver provider, and how Milford stays focused on delivering strong long-term outcomes, expert support and quality service for clients working towards their saving and retirement goals.

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Bridge talks Business: 22 September 2026
Episode Transcript

Ryan Bridge

Kia ora and welcome to episode 94 of Bridge talks Business with Milford. Great to have your company. We have results from the Canstar Awards for KiwiSaver providers, a bit like the Oscars for KiwiSaver. But it’s not just about financial results. Don’t get me wrong, results are very, very important and we will cover that too. But it’s also about trust. We KiwiSavers need to trust our providers, trust that they know what they’re doing in order for us to stay invested and to realise those returns. This week, Murray Harris, Mr KiwSaver himself, will join me. First, here’s your top five business bits from the last seven days.

    1. The Fed met the market’s high bar last week with a more hawkish outlook and clearly a greater likelihood of rate hikes going forward. This was key given what’s happening with those long end yields climbing. More contained though since this announcement from the Fed.
    2. The Bank of England held rates steady in a tight vote, though growing impatient clearly with the headline number. This suggests insurance-type hikes may be necessary, but markets had priced in much more aggressive paths. So the guidance prompted a rally in UK short-end bonds.
    3. The Bank of Japan delivered a rate hike but again failed to meet the high bar already priced in by the markets.
    4. Back home, GDP surprised to the upside although the underlying details less strong than the headline, with growth supported by net exports and government spending while consumer related industries remained weak.
    5. The week ahead brings global PMIs where the focus will be on how growth is holding up across Europe, the UK, in the face of those high energy prices. We also have a big summit between Trump and Xi in Washington and Australian employment data with hours worked and capacity measures that are key to watch.

Alright, it is time for our feature interview this week. We’re bringing back for another round – because I know how much you loved him last time – Murray Harris, who’s General Manager of KiwiSaver and Investment Funds at Milford. Just a reminder, this segment is informational only and should not be considered financial advice. Murray, welcome back.

Murray Harris

Thanks for having me back. Great to be back.

Ryan Bridge
Great to see you. Great to see you. Now, you’ve got some exciting news for us about Milford and these awards.

Murray Harris
Yes. So really excited on behalf of all of our members. Last week we were awarded the 2026 Canstar KiwiSaver Provider of the Year and the Outstanding Value KiwiSaver Scheme Awards. And the most exciting piece is that for both of these awards, it’s the seventh year in a row that we’ve been awarded these. And then aside from those, three other awards for individual funds, Outstanding Value KiwiSaver Fund Awards for our KiwiSaver Cash Fund, KiwiSaver Balanced and our KiwiSaver Active Growth Fund. So again, really, really excited, very pleased for the hard work of the team and the focus that we put on our clients, because at the end of the day, these are awards for our members. And we’re very, very proud of that.

 Ryan Bridge
Whatever. Humblebrag, humblebrag, humblebrag. Awards are awards. We love winning them. However, I want to know about how they’re actually judged. Like how has it decided all of these things?

Murray Harris
Yeah, yeah. This is an annual award. So Canstar are an independent consumer research and ratings business, and they do research on a number of different sectors across banking, finance, investing, insurance and utilities. And for this year’s awards, they assessed and reviewed 19 separate KiwiSaver providers out of the 30-odd that are available and 129 separate KiwiSaver funds.

Now to do this, they use quite a sophisticated research methodology, which looks at a number of factors. It’s not just on returns or in particular short-term returns. So they’re looking at features like what’s the price? What are the fees you’re paying for your KiwiSaver fund? What are the features of those funds? So the range of availability of the funds from cash through to aggressive and other options. What sort of services do you provide those members? Things like access to financial advice, access to help and support, people to talk to – the whole customer experience. And then, of course, there is performance. And because KiwiSaver is a long term investment product, they don’t just focus on what was the best performing fund over the past 12 months. It’s not short-term focused. It’s about long-term returns. And so they look at average returns of providers over five years. And with that, along with those other features and factors, they come up with the provider that they say has provided the best overall package and consistently provides the best solution for KiwiSaver members.

And so for us this year, I’m very pleased that they called us out and awarded us on our range of investment options. So we’ve got our KiwiSaver cash through to our aggressive fund. Our features, so things like they actually called out our mobile app and investor app, which is fantastic because we want our members to have – even though KiwiSaver is a long term investment, people are looking at their phone every day – but we know people like to do that. So they can go there and on the app and they can see their funds, they can see their balance moving around, they can see the companies that they’re invested in, they can make transactions. So that’s really, really important. Financial advice and our competitive fees and access to advice and services and our long-term performance track records. So once again, you know, seven years in a row, very, very proud that the hard work that we’ve put into our KiwiSaver offer has been well rewarded.

Ryan Bridge
It’s great to see. And it’s not just about, as you said, there are results, you know, you need to have good results, right? But also, and this is KiwiSaver members who are feeding into this, it’s actual interviews with people, it’s asking what do you feel about it? And it’s also about a trust element, isn’t it? It’s about, you know, do you do you trust, are you getting enough support to stay with this fund to stay invested?

Murray Harris
That’s right. I mean, the best part about these and other awards like it is that independence. So, you know, everyone can say that the best provider of they’ve had the best performing fund in the last year or quarter or whatever it is. But this the independence of an award like a Canstar award is that you’ve got that peace of mind that an independent expert organisation has gone in and kicked the tires on your KiwiSaver provider. I mean, like I said, there’s over 30 providers, right? KiwiSaver is very transportable, right? So you can switch provider in less than five minutes online. But how do you know you’re choosing the right provider? How do you know you’re going to be partnering with somebody for long-term success? And so looking at something like the Canstar Awards where it isn’t just about short-term returns, it’s about long-term relationship, service, the features, the offer, the support, the client experience and of course, investment returns – that it’s that full package. And that’s really important because for many people, KiwiSaver is going to be their largest asset. It’s already for some people bigger than the value of their house. It’s going to become next to housing probably for most people, their largest asset.

Ryan Bridge
Big deal.

Murray Harris
It is. And we’re talking big numbers, right? So the Massey University retirement expenditure data tells us that for a couple living in a metropolitan city, by age 65 will have to have saved around a million dollars to supplement their New Zealand Super if they want to live what Massey calls a choices retirement. So that’s a comfortable retirement. So it’s really important that you’re partnering with a provider that can do, you know, obviously returns are important, but it’s about providing the advice. Are you in the right fund? Have you set the right goal?

 Ryan Bridge
Reassurance.

Murray Harris
Reassurance is really important.

 Ryan Bridge
Yeah, because it’s all very well to have lots of good returns, but you’ve got to stay in the fund to realise those returns over a longer period, don’t you?

Murray Harris
That’s right. Well, you’ve got to set your goal. And sometimes people need advice and help to do that, whether that’s a tool or a calculator or a real person. The real key thing is to keep people focused when things aren’t so good. And for us, it’s really important about having people to talk to. We’ve got a fantastic team and our client services team – end of an 0800 number or an email – our members can engage with them if they want to do a transaction, if they want to do a first home withdrawal, if they want to do, unfortunately, you know, significant hardship withdrawals have been increasing this year for all providers. So we’ve got people to talk to and provide that service. You’re not just dealing with a chatbot or an online computer screen. We think that’s really, really important. So you need to partner for success. These are really important decisions.

Ryan Bridge
Given there have been so many years, so many wins on the trot. How do you not get complacent with this?

Murray Harris
Yeah, yeah, look, the awards are great. And yes, we are humble about them, but it’s not why we’re in business. And we gladly accept them and we’re very, very proud when we do win them. But actually what we’re focused on is partnering with all of our clients, whether they’re KiwiSaver members, investment fund clients or our wealth clients, partnering for success. You know, investing is a long term game. We want to help them to set their goals. We want to help them remain focused on those goals, help them through the good times and the bad, be there for them when they need help. So we’re focused on doing that. Look, we can always improve. The app – we want to make that even better. We’re adding other services to what we already do around advice. Decumulation. So spending people’s superannuation money – or their KiwiSaver money – is going to become more and more important. So we want to offer more services in that space as well. We’re always looking at our fund choices and saying, is there anything missing? So, you know, product development and those sorts of things. We will remain laser focused on the outcomes for our members. And if we do that and our members have a great experience, then well, that might mean more awards come and we would gladly accept them. But that’s not why we exist. We’re just focused on our member outcomes. If we do that well, our members will do well and we’ll do well.

Ryan Bridge
Good stuff. Murray, always lovely to chat. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast.

Murray Harris
Thank you very much.

Ryan Bridge
That was Murray Harris, General Manager of KiwiSaver and Investment Funds at Milford, talking to us about the Canstar Awards and just how many years Milford has succeeded on the trot. Just a reminder, you can like, follow and subscribe this podcast wherever you like to listen. We love you doing so. Until next week, don’t forget to invest in yourselves.

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