The recently rebranded NZX-owned fund manager, Smart, hit almost $12.6 billion under management as at the end of September ahead of a new product suite launch.
As reported in August, the business formerly known as Smartshares has slated the launch of four new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by year-end, adding to its existing range of 40.
Smart chief, Anna Scott, said the to-be-released ETFs would be backed by a “new global partner”.
Currently, the NZX funds arm uses Vanguard, BlackRock and PIMCO as underlying managers across various international asset classes in the ETF menu.
Scott said while Smart primarily focuses on index-tracking, the manager is watching the growth offshore of other ETF strategies such as factor-based or actively managed products.
“We expect to see other [ETF] options in NZ,” she said. “We want to have a broad offering to give investors choice.”
According to the NZX September metrics, Smart held just over $8.5 billion in ETF assets under management including more than $3.1 billion of external client money. The remainder is sourced via the associated SuperLife KiwiSaver and superannuation schemes – set to join the Smart family brand next year.
The total Smart funds under management also includes assets held in unlisted products, a smattering of third-party funds and the approximately $1.6 billion active manager, QuayStreet (which will retain its own brand identity).
NZX chief, Mark Peterson, has previously noted that “$15- $20 billion of FUM is the point when cost bases are at their most efficient for New Zealand fund managers.”
According to Scott, Smart would focus on organic growth for now without ruling out further acquisitions if the right opportunity arose.
She said the funds group would also continue to work closely with the NZX-owned investment platform, Wealth Technologies.
In May this year Smart(shares) turned to Wealth Technologies to provide back-office services for a single institutional client, AIA NZ, signalling other joint projects to come.
Wealth Technologies reported $15.6 billion in funds under administration as at the end of September, representing more than 40 per cent year-on-year growth.
Also last week, Westpac added a high-growth option to its KiwiSaver scheme, joining a raft of other providers in offering members a dialled-up risk fund.
Scheme documents show the new Westpac strategy goes all-in on growth with a 100 per cent exposure to equities in a target split between global (68 per cent) and Australasian (26 per cent) shares with the remaining 6 per cent in listed property.
By contrast the growth strategy aims for an 80/20 mix of growth to income assets.
The Westpac move follows similar risk-on fund additions to KiwiSaver schemes over the last few years including ASB, ANZ and Milford.
Westpac KiwiSaver managed more than $11 billion as at the end of June. The scheme uses 14 third-party managers – including Salt, Harbour and Devon for Australasian equities – as well as looking after local fixed income and cash in-house (through subsidiary, BT Funds NZ).