Always-Ethical AE KiwiSaver Plan (formerly Amanah KiwiSaver Plan)
Halal KiwiSaver & Retirement in Southland
New Zealand's only Shariah-compliant KiwiSaver scheme, operating since members were first accepted on 24 March 2014 (scheme registered 15 January 2014, registration number 10076). The scheme has a single fund that invests through AE Investor, a unit trust run by parent company Always-Ethical Limited, into up to 50 US stocks listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq plus cash in USD or NZD. There are no bonds and no fixed interest anywhere in the structure because interest-bearing instruments are prohibited under the Strict Ethical Mandate. The manager is AE KiwiSaver Limited (90% owned by Always-Ethical Limited), the supervisor is Trustees Executors Limited and the custodian is Apex Investment Administration (NZ) Ltd, both independent of the manager. The fund runs an absolute-return style: the target mix is 80% equities and 20% cash but the Investment Committee has full discretion from 100% equities to 100% cash, and at 31 March 2026 it actually held about 69% in cash and income assets. Risk indicator 7 of 7 under an alternative methodology. It is a PIE taxed at each member's PIR. Returns net of fees and before tax to 31 March 2026: 22.28% for one year, 8.09% p.a. over three years, 7.47% p.a. over five years and 8.48% p.a. over ten years.
This is the only game in town for certified halal retirement saving in New Zealand, and it is a more credible product than its size suggests. The religious mechanics are real and documented: named advisory board, AAOIFI-consistent ratios, daily screening, purification with charity donation, and an annual external assurance report, which is more transparency than many larger Islamic funds provide. The costs of being a boutique in a small market are equally real: 3.16% estimated charges plus NZD 32.40 a year eats returns, and members are also buying an active cash-timing strategy rather than a diversified index, with roughly 69% held in cash at 31 March 2026. The ten year record of 8.48% p.a. net of fees says the strategy has worked so far. Fee-sensitive savers who only want broad exclusions can pay a tenth of the price at Pathfinder or Simplicity, but neither screens for riba nor carries any Shariah oversight, so for observant Muslims the comparison is not really a choice.
Pros
- Certified religious architecture: named three-member advisory board, AAOIFI-aligned ratios, daily IdealRatings screening and an annual SAE 3100 assurance report
- Strong long-run numbers despite fees: 8.48% p.a. over ten years and 22.28% in the year to 31 March 2026, net of fees before tax
- Zero bonds and zero leverage, a purer construction than most global Islamic funds that hold sukuk
- Independent supervisor (Trustees Executors) and custodian (Apex) hold all assets
- No entry or exit fees, and the standard KiwiSaver government and employer top-ups apply
Cons
- Fees are roughly ten times the cheapest NZ providers: 3.16% estimated charges plus NZD 32.40 versus about 0.31% at Simplicity or 0.25% at Kernel
- Single aggressive fund with no conservative or balanced option; members nearing retirement cannot de-risk within the scheme
- Concentrated in up to 50 US-listed stocks with no NZX or global diversification, and the committee's cash timing calls dominate outcomes (about 69% cash at 31 March 2026)
- The manager publicly litigated against the FMA in 2018 over natural justice in supervision decisions; the licence has remained active since 2016 but the history is worth knowing
- The PDS frames compliance as Abrahamic rather than carrying a formal Shariah certification or annual Shariah board report
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Product Details
Structure
Shariah-screened KiwiSaver (Strict Ethical Mandate, AAOIFI-aligned)
Best For
Muslim New Zealanders who require a certified halal KiwiSaver and accept boutique fees and an actively timed, US-only equity strategy in exchange for the only Shariah-compliant option in the market.
Always-Ethical in Southland
Always-Ethical's AE KiwiSaver Plan (formerly Amanah KiwiSaver Plan) accepts members from Southland, structured as a Shariah-screened KiwiSaver (Strict Ethical Mandate, AAOIFI-aligned). KiwiSaver is a national scheme: employer and government contributions apply in the Shariah-compliant plan exactly as anywhere else. Always-Ethical serves customers across New Zealand, so Southland 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. Described in the OMI as philosophical advisors who ensure the manager meets Islamic Law as required; the board reviews Strict Ethical Mandate compliance but does not undertake investment selection. Daily screening is run by the manager with IdealRatings assistance. Source: AE KiwiSaver Plan OMI and always-ethical.com Ethical Mandate page, verified 2026-08-07.
2026-08-07
Why It's Halal
The Strict Ethical Mandate is the mechanism: no products whose return is based on interest (which excludes all banks, money lenders and insurers), no gambling or speculative investments, no derivatives, no alcohol, tobacco, weapons of war, adult entertainment, gold and silver hedging, pork or fossil fuel exploration, and absolutely no leverage. Permitted equities must pass financial ratios: interest-bearing debt under 30%, interest-bearing investments under 30%, and assets making or doing something for the good of humanity above 67% of total assets. Companies with prohibited business activity under 5% may be held with purification; if the 5% threshold is breached the stock is sold the next trading day. Compliance is checked daily by the manager with IdealRatings data, and the OMI states this mandate ensures compliance with AAOIFI standards. The AE Advisory Board (Sheikh Mohammad Amir, Dr Ahmed Rufai, Prof Faruk Balli) reviews mandate compliance but does not select investments, and an external SAE 3100 assurance report on the Ethical Mandate is published annually. All dividends are purified and any unavoidable interest is diverted by the registry into a purification account and donated to registered charities for the poor. Under KiwiSaver rules the scheme itself cannot purify, so it only invests via AE Investor, which delivers a purified investment; interest paid by Inland Revenue on contributions in transit is disclosed to members on withdrawal so they can purify it themselves. One honest nuance: the PDS describes the mandate as compliant in the directors' opinion with the requirements of the Abrahamic religions and tells investors concerned with religious compliance to seek advice from their religious leaders (PDS 8 May 2026, OMI, always-ethical.com, all crawled 2026-08-07).
Regional Availability
Always-Ethical serves all of New Zealand
✓ Available nationwide including Southland
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Always-Ethical AE KiwiSaver Plan (formerly Amanah KiwiSaver Plan)?
Why is Always-Ethical AE KiwiSaver Plan (formerly Amanah KiwiSaver Plan) considered halal?
Is Always-Ethical AE KiwiSaver Plan (formerly Amanah KiwiSaver Plan) available in Southland?
What Shariah oversight does Always-Ethical have?
What financing structure does Always-Ethical AE KiwiSaver Plan (formerly Amanah KiwiSaver Plan) use?
How do I apply for Always-Ethical AE KiwiSaver Plan (formerly Amanah KiwiSaver Plan) in Southland?
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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.