Hobson Wealth latest to enter KiwiSaver with a robo solution

A new robo-advised KiwiSaver scheme, partly-owned by sharebroker Hobson Wealth, is set to launch in a month's time, designed to offer better investor outcomes.

Friday, August 16th 2019, 12:03PM

Founder Rupert Carlyon said Kōura Wealth had received its MIS licence this week and planned to launch to the public in three or four weeks' time.

Hobson Wealth owns about half the shares in the company.

Carlyon said Kōura would not invest into Hobson's funds, however. It will have a passive strategy, investing into international passive funds and building its own domestic passive funds.

He said the KiwiSaver market was "kind of working" but too many people assumed that once they were in a KiwiSaver fund, someone else was dealing with it and they did not have to worry any further about retirement savings.

"That's about as far from the truth as you can get," Carlyon said. "We need to do a much better job of helping people make better decisions."

Kōura will only offer roboadvice. Carlyon said while people needed help, they were generally not willing to pay for it.

"How do we create a way to get people the help they need without adding a big cost upfront?"

Carlyon said Kōura's fees should fall "in the pack" of other passive managers. Members would effectively get free advice, he said.

"That's where the world is going to go. From a community perspective, I think everyone should be doing this. It's the logical next step. Technology is allowing us to do far more than we could 10 or 12 years ago when KiwiSaver first launched, why not just do it?"

Carlyon said it was something he had been thinking about for years.

There have been a number of new KiwiSaver providers enter the market in recent years but Carlyon said their success proved that there was room for innovation.

As balances became higher, people were paying more attention to what was on offer, and realising there were other options, he said.

Before launching Kōura, Carlyon was director of mergers and acquisitions at KPMG and spent time in the UK.

Tags: Hobson Wealth KiwiSaver Kōura Wealth roboadvice Rupert Carlyon