EBT Capital is a new manager in New Zealand, which has launched three funds: Global Equity, EBT US Equity and EBT Global Short-Term Debt.

They each have a flat all-in management fee of 50 basis points a year and invest in ETFs.

“We believe starting from scratch gave us some advantages,” said Thom Bentley, co-managing director and managing director at Remarkable Capital.

“We peeled back the reasons passive investing has taken off, and really started to appreciate the impact of fees on investment returns. Accordingly, we believe our funds provide what investors want and need today – low cost, passive ETFs tracking major global indices. We throw into the mix financial institution diversification and funds that are fully hedged to the New Zealand dollar, and we think we nail it for investors.”

Simon Botherway has been appointed as an independent director and chair of the board.

“These funds have been thoughtfully designed to deliver fully hedged benchmark returns by utilising best-in-breed managers and highly liquid ETFs," Botherway said.

"Their fund portfolios hit on some important themes in today’s market – passive investing is playing an increasingly important role in diversified portfolios. ETFs make a lot of sense, low fees will play a significant role in fund performance, and allocation to global assets is critical for all long-term investors.” 

The fund manager is based in Wanaka and it is hoped that the funds will be available from January 1.

Christopher Douglas, Morningstar's director of manager research ratings, Asia-Pacific, said it was a sign that more fund managers and product providers were starting to seriously think about New Zealand.

"The market is growing and I️ would expect to see more to come."

Clayton Coplestone, of Heathcote Investment Partners, agreed. "We’re going to see a plethora of investment vehicles hit the NZ industry over the coming years, ranging from low cost/no=frills options to repackaged gateways to highly specific active capabilities.

"The attraction will be New Zealand's reasonably robust governance environment, embryonic retirement savings platform, and the general lack of industry and consumer sophistication when it comes to product selection and portfolio construction. All investment solutions come with benefits and costs, which require experts to sift through, understand and match with the consumer’s own requirements."