ETF NEWS - ULTUMUS

Kiwi ETFS

Written by Bernie Thurston | 6 July 2020

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.