It has started to offer its retail funds direct to investors via investment platform InvestNow.

Andrew Bascand, mnaging director at Harbour Asset Management, said InvestNow offered the firm an ideal digital solution for self-directed investors looking to access its funds.

Bascand said some investors were increasingly demanding the ability to transact and control their own portfolio online – and this demand for choice was a trend the industry could not ignore.

“We recognise that many New Zealanders want choice in how they control their investments. We encourage investors to work with professional financial advisers if they choose to. But we also see investors across the age spectrum looking for online nonadvised solutions,” Bascand said. “We’re pleased to be offering those direct investors a great solution via InvestNow.”

InvestNow launched in January 2017 to provide investors direct access to high-quality investment products. It already represents AMP Capital, Mint, Russell Investments and Vanguard.

It was ounded by Anthony Edmonds, head of Wellington-based fund specialist firm Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS).

Clients pay a funds management fee, which is charged by the underlying manager.

Using a single, secure online sign-on process, InvestNow clients can also switch between funds on the platform – or construct a portfolio covering a wide variety of local and global asset classes – with a simple online anti-money laundering (AML) identification process.

“While not all investors like to go it alone, we believe there is a significant number of them who feel comfortable buying managed funds themselves but – until InvestNow – have lacked a clean, simple and cost-effective way of accessing products,” Edmonds said.

“Consumers today expect to be able to buy almost anything themselves online and investments should be no different – in fact, using the internet to access managed funds is a no-brainer for sophisticated investors.”

“In the past we’ve had limited options for non-advised, digitally savvy investors,” Bascand said. “Importantly, we see these investors as a new market for us, complementary to those clients who use financial advisers to access our funds.”