Investment options

We contacted the 11 KiwiSaver providers that offer funds which take responsible investment into account.

We wanted to know what information they provide to help consumers make an informed choice before signing up.

What's excluded

Most providers readily disclose information about the kinds of stocks they aim to avoid. These typically include alcohol, tobacco, gambling and arms (see the Investment funds compared table). Other controversial areas, like uranium mining, didn't appear on any fund's no-go list.

It pays to read the fund's policy on exclusions carefully as the extent to which stocks are screened out can vary. If alcohol is on the fund's hit list, the policy may be to avoid direct investment in alcohol manufacturing. It may still invest in companies - supermarkets say - which get some of their revenue from alcohol sales.

It also pays to check just how actively the fund screens investments. For example, First NZ Capital told us while it took responsible investment into account it didn't actively screen each investment. Nor are underlying fund managers required to adopt specific responsible investment practices.

What's included

More difficult to find out was where funds did invest. Details of investment portfolios are rarely published on websites and, in some cases, fund managers weren't willing to tell us where the money went (see the Investment funds compared table). We think funds should provide detailed reporting of all their holdings - this is what the best ones do overseas.

Eight of the 11 funds we looked at did give us a list of investments. As with similar funds overseas, share holdings tend to be concentrated in stock exchange leaders - in New Zealand, this means big-name corporates like Auckland International Airport and Fletcher Building. Prominent Australian companies BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto (both active in uranium mining) also featured in several funds' portfolios.

Three funds - ABN Amro Craigs, Asteron and Fidelity Life - told us their portfolios included renewable energy stocks (though they don't rule out non-renewables like oil and natural gas).

Fidelity Life also told us its overseas stocks (40 percent of the fund) were invested in F & C Investments Stewardship International Fund. F & C is considered a pioneer of ethical investing. Its Stewardship Fund recently topped the list of responsible investment funds rated by Ethical Consumer, though top place still only resulted in a score of 8 points out of 20 in the magazine's rigorous ratings.