InvestNow has burst through the $2 billion barrier a little more than seven years post launch.
Founded in 2017, the online investment platform hit the milestone last week after clocking up its fastest growth year since the immediate post COVID bump as funds under management jumped 30 per cent and client numbers breached 30,000
Mike Heath, InvestNow general manager, said the business – now part of the Apex Group – saw about 50 per cent year-on-year growth in its KiwiSaver scheme to reach $350 million.
Heath said the platform had also seen healthy support for its in-house Foundation Series Funds that include a couple of low-cost diversified products as well as access to ultra-cheap Vanguard US and global equities exchange-traded funds via a portfolio investment entity (PIE) structure.
“We developed these funds ourselves as a vehicle to make popular overseas options more accessible, and the response has been really pleasing,” he said in a release.
Over time InvestNow has expanded its offering to include over 150 funds from more than 30 investment managers along with a range of term deposits from six NZ-registered banks.
The platform has queued up a clutch of new PIE-based ETFs next year and a technical upgrade, Heath said.
He said InvestNow was also looking to build on its presence in the financial advisory space after beginning to engage seriously with the sector last year.
“Advisers appear to enjoy how we’ve removed the paperwork and hassle, streamlining how they can onboard, rebalance and switch customers,” Heath said.
Meanwhile, equities-trading platform, Sharesies, another 2017 vintage firm, now has about $4 billion under management. The bulk of Sharesies assets are held in direct shares but the platform also offers a limited suite of managed funds, a KiwiSaver scheme and simple bank deposit-like savings products. More recently, the business also expanded into car insurance distribution via a deal with Cove.
Despite arriving on the online-only investment scene slightly later, Kernel Wealth has recorded solid growth after going live in 2019.
Kernel, headed by Dean Anderson, recently tipped over $1.5 billion under management held across its collection of 24 funds, KiwiSaver scheme and savings product.
Also last week, Booster garnered a ‘highly commended’ nod at the glitzy Fintech Futures 2024 Banking Tech Awards in London for its PIE-backed cash transaction account, Savvy.
Booster was one of two highly commendeds – essentially, a second-placing – in the ‘Best User/Customer Experience Initiative for Consumers’ category that was taken out by the Brazilian Banco Bradesco for its ‘New Bradesco Expresso Platform’.
The Wellington-based investment manager and KiwiSaver provider was also a finalist in the ‘Best Use of Tech in Private Banking/Wealth Management’ category.
Released last November, Savvy taps into an underlying banking service provided by BNZ but with a tax-efficient PIE overlay.
Diana Papadopoulos, Booster chief customer officer, said in a release: “Savvy is a digital account with a Mastercard debit card that earns people a competitive rate of return (currently 4.25%). Savvy can also be used with EFTPOS if people don’t want to use contactless payments or it’s not available.”
Papadopoulos said fintech was starting to prove a competitive force in the NZ financial services industry.