The National Bank

Investment Risk

The National Bank KiwiSaver Scheme is administered and managed by OnePath (NZ) Limited (the Scheme Provider) and distributed through The National Bank of New Zealand.

Understanding and managing risk is the cornerstone of any successful investment philosophy, so it’s very important you become familiar with the concept of risk. In simple terms, investment risk is the chance that what you receive back on your investment will be less than you expect and may involve the loss of some or all of the money you have invested.

Unfortunately no one can predict with absolute certainty which investments will perform well over time and which may lose us money. What we can do however, is classify investments according to their characteristics and construct portfolios accordingly. When we do this, we generally divide investments into five main categories:

  • Cash
  • Fixed interest
  • Property
  • Shares
  • Alternatives

We call these five investment categories ‘asset classes’. Generally we expect potential returns over the long term to increase as we move down the first four asset classes on the list. However, of equal importance is the need to appreciate that there is a greater chance of money being lost by investing in the asset classes that have the higher expected potential returns (i.e. property and shares). This is illustrated in the diagram below. Alternatives are considered separately as the investments contained in this asset class are diverse, with differing risk and potential return characteristics.

Alternative assets is a broad category that encompasses investments that do not fall into the other four categories, e.g. commodities, hedge funds, private equity and absolute return investment funds. Any exposure to alternative assets in the funds offered in the National Bank KiwiSaver Scheme (“Funds”) is carefully considered and monitored. The extent of these exposures is limited to within set boundaries.

The multi-sector Funds in the National Bank KiwiSaver Scheme will predominately be invested across the four asset classes shown in the diagram above. The more conservative Funds will be weighted more heavily to the investments in the bottom left-hand corner of the graph (i.e. a greater percentage of the Fund will invest in cash and fixed interest); the balanced and growth Funds will be weighted more heavily to the investments in the top right hand corner (i.e. a greater percentage of the Fund will invest in property and shares).

The National Bank KiwiSaver Scheme also offers a single-sector Cash Fund that invests solely into cash assets.

It is very important to note that none of these investments are guaranteed. There is always a chance of losing some or all of the money you have invested. We have provided more detail in the What are my risks? section of the National Bank KiwiSaver Scheme Investment Statement.

With the National Bank KiwiSaver Scheme you have one single sector Fund and five multi-sector Funds to choose from. To help you choose the most appropriate Fund, visit which fund is right for you?


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