How your money is held

The money you deposit in Save and PIE 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 and PIE 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.

Where your money is invested

The money in your Save account is invested in a cash account 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).

The money that you invest in PIE Save is invested in the Sharesies PIE Save fund, with the custodian being Apex Investment Administration (NZ) Limited. Investments of the fund are listed in Fund Updates.

Deposit guarantee scheme in NZ

Sharesies doesn’t hold a banking or deposit-taking license. While 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 (the scheme to protect depositors) will work. 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.