Auckland Council should let the NZ Super Fund manage their fund

The Herald reports:

Concerns are mounting among senior figures at Auckland Council over continued delays to appoint an investment manager for the city’s $1.3 billion Future Fund – with one councillor claiming the fund was missing out on $1m of growth every day.

Okay they are not missing out on $1m on growth a day. That is equal to a 28% annual return. There is no fund in NZ that gets anything close to that. The better funds can get 8% or so. Let’s say the Council is getting 3% from deposits, so they are missing out on maybe 5% which would be around $180,000 a day – still a useful amount.

Anyway the Taxpayers’ Union had the best solution for Auckland Council. It could be done almost instantly, would not need any consultants, and happen quickly. Ask the NZ Super Fund to manage the Auckland Future Fund for them. Why reinvent the wheel. The NZ Super Fund has demonstrated excellent returns over many years (and credit to Adrian Orr for his tenure there).