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.

TickerFund NameFeeBenchmark
AUSSmartshares S&P/ASX 200 ETF0.30%S&P/ASX 200 Index
NGBSmartshares NZ Government Bond ETF0.20%S&P/NZX NZ Government Bond Index
NZGSmartshares S&P/NZX 50 ETF0.20%S&P/NZX 50 Index
TWHSmartshares Total World (NZD HGD) ETF0.46%FTSE Global All Cap Index

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).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.

Nonetheless, thanks to Kiwisaver, the Kiwi pension system, the ETF market is gaining pace.