New Zealand Opportunity
The New Zealand institutional market is smaller than its Australian cousin but offers a number of significant institutional prospects.
In addition 2007 saw the launch of KiwiSaver, a voluntary work based savings initiative to help New Zealanders with their long term saving for retirement. The growth of KiwiSaver has surpassed most early expectations and is now up to around NZ$10 billion in assets.
There are many similarities with the Australian market, including the following characteristics:
- A very sophisticated market that is prepared to consider new products and new managers.
- A market where asset consultants are heavily involved, including familiar international names such as Mercer and Russell Investments.
- An open market in which foreign based managers are able to compete on level terms with domestic players.
- An English Law jurisdiction.
- Legislation that supports the use of Australian domiciled funds by New Zealand investors.
The New Zealand market warrants serious attention and is only a short plane trip from the east coast of Australia.
