New Zealand
The New Zealand Exchange – which runs the country’s exchange and doubles up as its only ETF provider – is set to list four new ETFs. “Smartshares” is the sub-brand the New Zealand Exchange uses for providing ETFs.
| Ticker | Fund Name | Fee | Benchmark |
| AUS | Smartshares S&P/ASX 200 ETF | 0.30% | S&P/ASX 200 Index |
| NGB | Smartshares NZ Government Bond ETF | 0.20% | S&P/NZX NZ Government Bond Index |
| NZG | Smartshares S&P/NZX 50 ETF | 0.20% | S&P/NZX 50 Index |
| TWH | Smartshares Total World (NZD HGD) ETF | 0.46% | FTSE Global All Cap Index |
The funds are all plain vanilla and provide core exposure. The Total World fund will build its portfolio by buying into a US-listed ETF from Vanguard.
New Zealand’s ETF’s market is very small – smaller than Australian states with comparable populations, like Queensland. Most sophisticated New Zealanders have access to Australian trading anyway and have something of an incentive to use Australian financial services thanks to light touch tax laws and institutional overlap. (It’s the same banks in both countries).
Nonetheless, thanks to Kiwisaver, the Kiwi pension system, the ETF market is gaining pace.
