Where your money is held

Because Sharesies does not hold a banking or deposit-taking license, the money in your Save account is held on trust with a major registered NZ-based bank. The credit rating of this bank is Standard and Poor’s AA- (the highest rating in New Zealand currently).

How your money is held

The money you deposit in Save is treated in the same way as the money that’s invested through the wider Sharesies platform. This is through what we refer to as the Sharesies custodial model. This means that money deposited in Save is held on bare trust by a separate custodian company called Sharesies Nominee Limited. Sharesies Nominee Limited is separate to Sharesies Limited (which is the company that grows and develops the Sharesies platform day to day).

Sharesies Nominee Limited is responsible for the custody of investors’ money and investments. So your money is held separately to the money used for the day to day operation of the business. This means if anything were to happen to Sharesies Limited, your money would be safe.

Deposit guarantee scheme in NZ

Whilst the Deposit Takers Act has now passed, there is now a consultation underway between the Reserve Bank, Treasury and deposit takers on how the Depositor Compensation Scheme (ie the scheme to protect depositors) will work. There is still a lot of detail to be worked through and this is not intended to be up and running until the end of 2024. The current drafting of the Deposit Takers Act is that customers under the Sharesies Save arrangement would have the same cover as they would have if they deposited those funds directly at the registered bank.

More information about the Deposit Takers Bill can be found here.