Nikko AM launches financial 'roboadvice' service

Stuff, Rob Stock, 06 March 2019

Giant Asian fund manager Nikko Asset Management launched a roboadvice service, heralding the beginning of a new age in money management.

While roboadvice investment services have been operating overseas for years, including Betterment and Blooom in the US, New Zealand has been slow to follow suit because here financial advice can only legally be given by a human being.

But the Financial Markets Authority has the power to give exemptions to that law, and Nikko is the first of the larger fund managers to use it, though Kiwisaver provider Kiwi Wealth is expected to follow suit shortly.

Roboadvice utilises artificial intelligence to gather information from individuals and give them personalised investment advice.

It's seen as the great hope for delivering investment and retirement advice to the mass of people with no access to a financial adviser, including helping more people to move out of low-return conservative KiwiSaver funds, and into higher-risk funds more likely to deliver them a larger nest egg for retirement.

Nikko, despite looking after more than $5 billion investor money in New Zealand, is little known to the public, with only around 15 per cent of Kiwis claiming to know the brand in a recent survey.

But George Carter, managing director of Nikko in New Zealand, hopes its GoalsGetter service will change that.

Nikko Asset Management New Zealand Limited (Company No. 606057, FSP22562) is the licensed Investment Manager of Nikko AM NZ Investment Scheme, Nikko AM NZ Wholesale Investment Scheme and the Nikko AM KiwiSaver Scheme. This material has been prepared without taking into account a potential investor’s objectives, financial situation or needs and is not intended to constitute personal financial advice, and must not be relied on as such. The Product Disclosure Statements are available on our website: https://www.nikkoam.co.nz./invest/retail.