When you invest in US shares, you'll be swapping New Zealand Dollars (NZD) for US Dollars (USD), and vice versa. Whenever this currency conversion happens, a small foreign exchange (FX) fee applies.
We've kept our fees simple and tiered to match how you use the platform, with a lower FX rate for our Plus & Premium members. The only fees we charge are a plan fee and FX fee as per below:
Plan | Subscription fee | FX fee |
Core Plan | No fee | 1.5% FX fee on currency conversions |
Plus Plan | $5/month | 0.6% FX fee on currency conversions |
Premium Plan | $15/month | 0.4% FX fee on currency conversions |
Annual subscriptions are available for Plus and Premium plans at a discounted rate. All fees are clearly displayed before you confirm any transaction, so you'll always know exactly what you're paying.
When do FX fees apply?
You'll see this fee included when:
You buy or sell US investments through Kernel US Shares and ETFs.
You receive dividends paid in USD (we automatically convert these to NZD for you).
Here's a quick example:
Let's say you want to buy NZD$1,000 worth of a US share or ETF:
If you're on the Core plan, the FX fee would be $15.00 (which is 1.5% of $1,000).
If you're on the Plus plan, the FX fee would be $6.00 (which is 0.60% of $1,000).
If you're on the Premium plan, the FX fee would be just $4.00 (which is 0.40% of $1,000).
No Surprises: We always use the current market exchange rate plus our fee. The best part? You'll always see the total cost, including the FX fee, clearly displayed before you confirm any transaction.
Are there any other fees?
When investing in ETFs, you may have to pay an "Expense Ratio" (which you could think of as an annual management fee), which is already built into the unit price. The fee varies depending on the specific ETF and is charged by the ETF provider.