Always-Ethical AE Investor Unit Trust (formerly AmanahNZ)
Halal Investing in Otago
A US dollar denominated PIE managed fund, started 1 September 2013, that holds up to 50 ordinary shares of companies listed on the NYSE, NYSE MKT or Nasdaq main board, or cash in USD or NZD, under the same Strict Ethical Mandate as the AE KiwiSaver Plan (which invests through this trust). Open to all with no minimum investment: sums under NZD 100 are held in an individual wallet by the registry (Appello Services Ltd) until they reach NZD 100, then units are issued. Contributions accepted in NZD or USD from an AML/CFT compliant bank account. Withdrawals at any time by written notice, paid in USD or NZD; full redemption takes up to 5 working days, with 90% payable the same day if urgent. Absolute-return style with a risk indicator of 7; target mix 80% equities and 20% cash with full committee discretion. Supervisor Trustees Executors Limited, custodian Apex Investment Administration (NZ) Ltd. Returns net of expenses and before tax to 30 April 2026: 18.29% for one year, 4.62% p.a. over three years, 3.14% p.a. over five years, 6.39% p.a. over ten years.
AE Investor is the non-KiwiSaver door into the same Strict Ethical Mandate, and its honesty is its best feature: the purification line is quantified at 0.34%, the mandate memorandum and SAE 3100 report are public, and there is no minimum, so a student can start with NZD 100. The investment case is more mixed. Over the five years to 30 April 2026 it returned 3.14% p.a. net while US markets ran hard, a gap explained by heavy cash allocations and a 3.29% cost stack. A cost-focused NZ Muslim with a foreign brokerage could hold a global Islamic ETF for under 0.60% and screen individual stocks with Zoya or Musaffa for a fraction of the price, at the cost of doing their own purification math and paying brokerage FX spreads. What that DIY route cannot replicate is a supervised, NZ-regulated PIE where compliance breaches are sold the next trading day without the investor lifting a finger. Decide based on which of those you value more.
Pros
- The only NZ-domiciled retail halal managed fund outside KiwiSaver, with genuine no-minimum access
- Cleaner liquidity than KiwiSaver: money is not locked to age 65 or first-home withdrawal
- Purification is quantified and published rather than hand-waved, rare anywhere in the world
- USD denomination suits savers who want US-market exposure without opening a foreign brokerage
Cons
- All-in costs around 3.29% p.a. are high in absolute terms and against any global Islamic ETF held via a broker
- Five and three year returns (3.14% and 4.62% p.a. to 30 April 2026) lag the KiwiSaver plan's, showing the drag of cash timing and fees in a strong US market
- USD unit pricing means NZD investors carry unhedged currency risk in both directions
- Boutique scale keeps brokerage and admin expenses elevated, as the PDS itself concedes
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Product Details
Min Investment
None (sums under NZD 100 held in a registry wallet until NZD 100 is reached, then invested)
Always-Ethical in Otago
Always-Ethical's AE Investor Unit Trust (formerly AmanahNZ) is accessible to investors in Otago, structured as Shariah-screened USD unit trust (Strict Ethical Mandate, AAOIFI-aligned): New Zealand's halal investing products are digital, so region matters less than fees, purification and governance. Minimum investment: None (sums under NZD 100 held in a registry wallet until NZD 100 is reached, then invested). Always-Ethical serves customers across New Zealand, so Otago residents have full access to this product subject to the eligibility requirements above.
Our Take on Always-Ethical
Always-Ethical is the entire domestic halal fund market of New Zealand in one Takapuna boutique, and it deserves more credit than its size and fees first suggest: the mandate mechanics, purification accounting and external assurance are unusually transparent, and the long-run returns have absorbed the cost stack. The honest counterweights are fees near ten times the NZ low-cost leaders, a single aggressive fund with no de-risking option, an active cash-timing style that makes outcomes manager-dependent, and a 2017-18 public fight with the FMA. If Shariah compliance is a requirement, this is the only certified option and a defensible one; if it is a preference, price the 2.5 to 3 percentage point annual fee gap honestly.
How Always-Ethical Works
Join or invest
AE KiwiSaver Plan: transfer or enrol via the application form in the PDS. AE Investor: apply with the PDS form, no minimum (sums under NZD 100 pool in a registry wallet until NZD 100).
The mandate does the screening
Holdings are limited to up to 50 US-listed stocks passing the Strict Ethical Mandate ratios, checked daily against IdealRatings data; breaches are sold the next trading day.
Purification and reporting
Dividends are purified and unavoidable interest is diverted to a purification account, donated annually to registered charities and disclosed in audited financials, fund updates and the annual SAE 3100 report.
Financing Structure
Both products are trusts under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. The AE KiwiSaver Plan (a registered KiwiSaver scheme under the KiwiSaver Act 2006) has one fund that invests into AE Investor, a USD-denominated PIE unit trust, keeping a single screened portfolio at the bottom of the stack. The Strict Ethical Mandate is a written restricted-investment mandate recorded in a published memorandum and embedded in each SIPO: up to 50 US-listed stocks passing AAOIFI-aligned ratio screens, or cash. Manager AE KiwiSaver Limited delegates management to parent Always-Ethical Limited; Trustees Executors Limited supervises, Apex Investment Administration (NZ) Ltd holds assets, and Appello Services Ltd runs the registry and unit pricing. Purification operates at the registry level (interest diverted before it reaches the fund account) and at the accounting level (dividend purification accrued and donated to charities annually).
In-Depth Analysis
Always-Ethical Limited began as Amanah Trust Management (NZ) Limited, incorporated 29 July 2013, launched the AmanahNZ unit trust on 1 September 2013 and opened the Amanah KiwiSaver Plan to members on 24 March 2014 (scheme registered 15 January 2014, registration 10076). On 30 September 2021 the company and products rebranded: Amanah KiwiSaver Plan became AE KiwiSaver Plan and AmanahNZ became AE Investor. Founder Brian Henry, a barrister with over 45 years' experience, sits on the board alongside Prof Faruk Balli (Massey University, formerly senior economist at the Central Bank of Qatar), chair Gregory Fortuin and Dr Anwar-Ul Ghani MNZM, with Dennis Jay Gates also appointed in 2021 (companies register data and fund updates, verified 2026-08-07).
The investment architecture is deliberately narrow. Both funds may hold only up to 50 ordinary shares of companies listed on the NYSE, NYSE MKT or Nasdaq main board, or cash in USD or NZD. Preference shares, bonds, derivatives, leverage and every interest-based instrument are prohibited outright. Financial ratio screens require interest-bearing debt and interest-bearing investments each below 30% and good-of-humanity assets above 67% of total assets. The manager describes the style as absolute return: the Investment Committee can run anywhere from 100% equities to 100% cash, and at 31 March 2026 the KiwiSaver fund actually held about 69% in cash and income assets, which is why Sorted Smart Investor benchmarks it against conservative funds despite its aggressive label and risk indicator of 7.
Religious governance has three layers: the AE Advisory Board (Sheikh Mohammad Amir, Dr Ahmed Rufai, Prof Faruk Balli) reviews Strict Ethical Mandate compliance without selecting investments; the manager screens holdings daily using IdealRatings data, with non-compliant stocks sold the next trading day and the OMI stating the mandate ensures AAOIFI compliance; and external auditors issue an annual SAE 3100 assurance report on mandate compliance, published on the documents pages. Purification is structural: all dividends are purified, unavoidable interest is diverted by the registry into a purification account, and the donation to registered charities appears in the audited financial statements and as a disclosed fund expense.
Costs and history are where scrutiny lands. The KiwiSaver PDS of 8 May 2026 estimates total annual charges at 3.16% plus a NZD 32.40 member fee, and actual charges were 3.33% in the year to 31 March 2025; AE Investor runs at about 3.29% all-in. In 2017 the FMA determined, without consultation according to the manager, that the funds had stopped managing investments during a period when the directors held existing investments and accumulated contributions pending a capital raise; the firm was restricted from marketing and needed FMA permission to process new KiwiSaver applications, and in 2018 it sued the FMA alleging breaches of natural justice, with directors seeking damages. The licence, granted 7 November 2016, has remained active throughout, and the scheme has operated continuously since (NZ Herald and Stuff reporting, FMA licence register, verified 2026-08-07).
Shariah Compliance Details
- FMA licence: managed investment scheme manager, granted 7 November 2016, FSP312967, status active (fma.govt.nz, verified 2026-08-07)
- AE Advisory Board members named in the OMIs: Sheikh Mohammad Amir, Dr Ahmed Rufai, Prof Faruk Balli (verified 2026-08-07)
- Daily compliance monitoring with IdealRatings; OMI states the Strict Ethical Mandate ensures compliance with AAOIFI standards (verified 2026-08-07)
- Annual SAE 3100 Ethical Mandate assurance report and Strict Ethical Mandate memorandum published on the key documents pages (verified 2026-08-07)
- KiwiSaver scheme registered 15 January 2014 (registration 10076); supervisor Trustees Executors Limited; custodian Apex Investment Administration (NZ) Ltd
How Always-Ethical Compares
Within New Zealand there is no like-for-like competitor: Pathfinder, Simplicity, Kernel and Booster SRI apply exclusion screens that overlap with parts of the mandate but none screens riba, none excludes conventional finance, and none has Shariah oversight, at fees between roughly 0.25% and 1.1%. Against offshore Islamic funds accessible to NZ investors through brokers (for example global Shariah ETFs at 0.30% to 0.60%), Always-Ethical is far more expensive but is the only option inside the KiwiSaver wrapper, with its employer and government contributions, and the only NZ-regulated PIE doing automatic purification.
Bottom Line
New Zealand's entire certified halal fund market is this one Takapuna boutique, and it executes the religious mechanics better than its size suggests: named board, daily screening, quantified purification, external assurance. Accept the roughly 3.2% cost stack and single aggressive fund as the price of certified compliance in a market of five million people, and use the Disclose Register fund updates to watch the cash allocation, because that, more than stock picking, drives results here.
Read full Always-Ethical reviewShariah Compliance & Oversight
AE Advisory Board: Sheikh Mohammad Amir, Dr Ahmed Rufai, Prof Faruk Balli. Reviews Strict Ethical Mandate compliance of AE Investor; does not undertake investment selection. Source: AE Investor OMI (1 April 2025), verified 2026-08-07.
2026-08-07
Why It's Halal
Identical Strict Ethical Mandate to the KiwiSaver plan, applied directly: prohibited activities include anything earning interest (all banks, money lenders, insurers), gambling, derivatives, alcohol, tobacco, weapons, adult entertainment, gold and silver hedging, pork, fossil fuel exploration and leverage. Financial ratios require interest-bearing debt under 30%, interest-bearing investments under 30% and good-of-humanity assets above 67%. Holdings with prohibited activity above 5% are sold the next trading day. Compliance is monitored daily with IdealRatings and the OMI states the mandate ensures compliance with AAOIFI standards; the AE Advisory Board (Sheikh Mohammad Amir, Dr Ahmed Rufai, Prof Faruk Balli) reviews mandate compliance. Purification is built into the fund's accounting: all dividends are purified, unavoidable interest is diverted into a purification account and the annual purification donation to registered charities is disclosed as a fund expense (0.34% of NAV in the year measured). An SAE 3100 assurance report and a memorandum recording the Strict Ethical Mandate are published on the key documents page (AE Investor PDS 1 April 2025 and OMI, crawled 2026-08-07).
Regional Availability
Always-Ethical serves all of New Zealand
✓ Available nationwide including Otago
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Compare With Other Options in Otago
2 other investing products available to Otago residents
Halal Investment Growth Estimate
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Total Value
$343,778
Contributed
$130,000
Growth
$213,778
Hypothetical projection. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Compare FundsFrequently Asked Questions
What is Always-Ethical AE Investor Unit Trust (formerly AmanahNZ)?
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What Shariah oversight does Always-Ethical have?
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Important: HalalWallet provides educational information and comparisons to help you explore halal financial options. We do not provide financial, legal, or religious advice. Product structures and Shariah compliance oversight vary by provider. Always verify halal compliance directly with providers and consult with qualified Islamic finance advisors or scholars for guidance on specific products and your individual circumstances.