Financial Markets Conduct (Sharesies KiwiSaver Scheme) Exemption Notice (No 2) 2023

Summary: The Notice exempts Sharesies Investment Management Limited (Sharesies) as manager of the Sharesies KiwiSaver Scheme (Scheme), and the self-select fund in the Scheme (self-select fund) from certain provisions of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (the FMC Act) and the Financial Markets Conduct Regulations 2014 (the FMC Regulations), and the Financial Markets Conduct (Fees) Regulations 2014. Download the notice PDF.

The exemptions recognise the difficulties faced by Sharesies as fund manager of the self-select fund in complying with the disclosure requirements of the FMC Act and the FMC Regulations. The exemptions also recognise the uniquely high fee burden Sharesies would face in relation to the self-select fund given the requirement for lodgement fees to be paid on a 'per fund' basis, which would result in an unintended and disproportionate compliance cost. In the absence of the exemptions, Sharesies would be required to comply with disclosure requirements that are likely to result in a high compliance burden (and compliance costs) without providing useful information for investors that will help them to make decisions relating to financial products.

The exemptions are subject to conditions that require retail investors in Sharesies’ self-select fund to invest within defined guardrails, and that provide for investors to have access to more meaningful information relating to the self-select fund in the PDS and a supplement to the PDS and also for investors to receive quarterly reports containing personalised investor information relating to their own self-selected portfolio. 

In these circumstances, the granting of the exemptions is desirable in order to promote the purposes of the FMC Act, specifically by avoiding unnecessary compliance costs and providing for timely, accurate and understandable information to be provided to investors to assist them with making investment decisions.  The FMA also considers that the exemption is not broader than is reasonably necessary to address the particular difficulties experienced by Sharesies as manager of the self-select fund and the Scheme.