FAQ's

Contributions will generally be credited to your account the working day after the deposit is made. Your balance will reflect this contribution the following working day after the deposit however, your number of units is not updated until two working days after your deposit is made. You can check your contribution has been credited to your account by checking your account activity.

If you believe a transaction is not showing on your account, please contact us and we can check your transactions for you. You will need to provide us with details of the payment made including dates, references used and payment methods. Get in touch with us if you have a query – [email protected] or 0800 942 472.

You can check your balance by logging into your online account here.

IMPORTANT: If you are logging in for the first time, you will need to reset your password. If you have any issues logging into your online account, please contact us on [email protected] or 0800 942 472.

The unit price is not a reflective figure of your account and is not affected by transactions on your account. The unit price can change daily and the rise and fall of the unit price is indicative of the current market values. For more information on unit prices, please visit the Whai Rawa website here.

The number of units displayed is the number of units you own by making contributions to (or making withdrawals from) your account. Your balance will generally reflect a contribution the working day after the deposit is made. However, your number of units is not updated until two working days after your deposit is made.  If you still have questions please get in touch with us on [email protected] or 0800 942 472.

Yes, your Whai Rawa account is an investment, not a bank account. Your account balance can go up and down depending on investment markets and your fund choice.

Higher-risk funds are made up of higher proportions of growth assets such as shares and property so they will likely be the ones that move up and down in value more.  This is referred to as market volatility. The (significant) upside is, over the longer-term these funds will usually provide higher returns, growing your money more.

We have some videos that can also assist you to understand market volatility. These videos help to understand the movements in the financial markets and were released to assist whanau to understand what impact COVID-19 has had on your investment in the past and what impact Covid-19 (or any other future events) may have on your investment in future.

If you’d like to revisit your Risk profile at this time you can take our Risk Quiz here – www.whairawa.com/riskquiz. This may help you in determining the most appropriate fund for your investments.

You can check your fund choice by logging into your online account here.

Both returns and payments from Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu are subject to tax and it is important to supply the correct tax information to Whai Rawa either at joining or when we request it from you. Find out more here.

No – Whai Rawa is a managed investment scheme – it is not a bank account and WRFL is not a registered bank.

Whai Rawa Funds are currently invested in Mercer Investment Trusts New Zealand’s Socially Responsible Conservative, Balanced and Growth Portfolio’s. Investment gains and losses, if applicable, are attributed to member accounts each business day.

For more information on the risks of investing click here.

Payments are allocated to member accounts based on the six-digit reference member along with the bank account name details of the payer. Any payment from an account whose account name does not directly match the name of the member will be treated as a third-party contribution. These will normally be payments from whānau members. Member contributions and third-party contributions will both qualify for Matched Savings.

Because each member account has a number of sub-accounts and PIE tax is deducted from each account separately.

Yes Whai Rawa funds are accessible to members anywhere in the world.

Whānau who have previously owned their own home may still – in some cases – be able to withdraw their funds from Whai Rawa.  Get in touch with us to find out if this applies to you.

You can withdraw from your Whai Rawa account:

• To help finance your tertiary education
• To buy or build your first home
• For retirement (from age 55)

You can also withdraw in certain special circumstances (normally serious hardship or illness). More information is available here.

Whai Rawa is a unitised fund, which means our investment Administration Manager, Mercer (NZ) Ltd values each member’s account balance each business day. Please be aware that, even in normal circumstances, it can take up to three business days for units to be priced and allocated to member accounts. This means that your balance may fluctuate (down or up) from the time we receive your complete application for review to the time your application is processed.

With recent market fluctuations, we advise that you check your account balance before proceeding with withdrawals and factor potential fluctuation into your plans. You can check your balance by logging into your online account at www.whairawa.com/login or by contacting us.

IMPORTANT: If you are logging in for the first time, you will need to reset your password.

If you are looking to make a withdrawal soon, it’s important you understand how daily unit pricing works and how market fluctuations may impact your balance and the amount you may be able to withdraw.

We advise you to check your account balance before proceeding with withdrawals and factor potential fluctuations into your plans. You can check your balance by logging into your online account at www.whairawa.com/login or by contacting us.

IMPORTANT: If you are logging in for the first time, you will need to reset your password.

There are a number of different organisations who are involved with the day to day running of Whai Rawa. The main regulator of Whai Rawa in New Zealand is the Financial Markets Authority. Whai Rawa Fund Limited (WRFL), a limited liability company, was appointed by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Limited through The Office of Te Rūnanga to manage the Whai Rawa Unit Trust.

Trustees Executors Limited supervises WRFL’s management of the Whai Rawa Unit Trust. See more information here.

Matched Savings are designed to encourage members of Whai Rawa to save their own money by providing an incentive of ‘matching’ the amount members save, (to a maximum) with money from Te Rūnanga. Each year Te Rūnanga will determine the amount of matched saving available to members for the next year.

Te Rūnanga sets a provisional budget for distributions within the Whai Rawa budget each year as part of the overall Te Rūnanga budget. Matched Savings (if any) are paid out of the Te Rūnanga budget first, with the balance being divided up for a Distribution for all eligible members.

Matched Savings and Distributions are available to all eligible members under 65. Those aged 65 and older as at the end of the relevant calendar year currently receive Kaumātua Grants outside the scheme rather than Whai Rawa distributions.

More information here.

Previously the Whai Rawa Fund was invested in a Conservative Fund. You can now choose between three Socially Responsible Fund choices for your investment – Tōtara-Conservative, Mataī-Balanced or Rātā-Growth.

Each Fund has a different level of risk and accordingly different return expectations.

What might be best for you might not be best for your tamariki.

Your Whai Rawa funds are currently invested in Mercer Investment Trusts New Zealand’s Socially Responsible Conservative, Balanced and Growth Funds (Mercer (NZ) Ltd is the Underlying Fund Manager of those Funds). Each business day a rate of return is calculated and allocated to members’ accounts.

The returns you receive are dependent on the investment decisions of WRFL, the fund management decisions of the Underlying Fund Manager and the performance of the investments. The value of those investments may go up or down.

Some risks that may negatively impact your investment balance are market risk, interest rate risk and inflation risk. You can view the most recent Risk Indicator for each of our Funds in our Quarterly Fund Updates and more information is in our Product Disclosure Statement here. Note that even the lowest risk category does not mean a risk-free investment.

As with any investment, there will be costs incurred for managing Whai Rawa. These include Manager and Administration Manager’s fees; Trustee fees; Expenses of the Trust/Other fees.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has agreed to pay all the fees and expenses of Whai Rawa Fund Limited (WRFL) (acting in its capacity as Manager of the Whai Rawa Unit Trust) on an on-going basis while WRFL remains as the Manager of the Whai Rawa Unit Trust. In the future, Te Rūnanga may decide to reduce the amount it pays towards fees and costs, or decide not to pay them at all.

Any fees or costs not paid by Te Rūnanga or any other third party will be met by the Whai Rawa Unit Trust and charged to Members’ accounts. Specific costs connected to fund management services for the Whai Rawa Unit Trust are charged to the Scheme and thereby funded by members. See more information here.

Yes.  By opening an account (even if you’re not in a position to start saving right now) you will be eligible to receive any distributions Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu may decide to make to members. More information is available here.

Yes. Whai Rawa is complementary to KiwiSaver; many adult members of Whai Rawa are also in KiwiSaver.

No. Due to some of the unique benefits of Whai Rawa, it is not a registered superannuation scheme. This means funds cannot be transferred into Whai Rawa from other superannuation schemes or from KiwiSaver schemes.

There are a range of ways to make contributions to your account or the accounts of friends and whānau:

• Automatic Payments
• Phone/Internet Banking – we have New Zealand, Australian and International bank accounts (Note: there are no fees or currency conversion costs for Australian based whānau)
• Transfer (from one Whai Rawa account to another)
• Koha to a Whai Rawa account

See here for the full list of ways to contribute.

Our Risk Quiz may help you to better understand how your approach to risk translates to the Fund options available to you. Answer 5 quick questions to find out which option might be right for you.

Visit the Risk Quiz here.

Whai Rawa offers three Fund options – the Tōtara-Conservative Fund, the Mataī-Balanced Fund, and the Rātā-Growth Fund, which in turn are currently invested in the Mercer Investment Trusts New Zealand (“MITNZ”) Socially Responsible Conservative Portfolio (“MITNZ Conservative Portfolio”), the Socially Responsible Balanced Portfolio (“MITNZ Balanced Portfolio”), and the Socially Responsible Growth Portfolio (“MITNZ Growth Portfolio”) (together the “MITNZ Portfolios”) managed by Mercer (N.Z.) Limited (“Mercer”).

You can choose to invest 100% of your account into one of these Funds.

If you have not made a choice yet you can log in to your Whai Rawa account to take our Risk Quiz, make a Fund choice or just look at the options. Visit www.whairawa.com/login to access your member portal.

Consider your investment strategy in your decision. The length of time you have to invest your pūtea/money before you expect to withdraw it, your age, Whai Rawa balance, and how risk averse you feel, will all contribute to your decision.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) – our regulator – comments that investors [should] consider carefully before switching funds, as they will, on occasion, see major ups and downs in balances. Recognising that some people might need the money immediately for a first home, switching funds during market turbulence forces the sale of investments at lower prices and gives up the prospect of gains when those investments start to recover. Remember if your balance falls, you haven’t actually lost any money – it just means the value of your investments has dropped. However, if you change your fund that loss becomes real – your provider has to sell your investments at that new low value, so you end up locking in that loss.

If you’d like to revisit your risk profile at this time, one of the ways you can do this is by taking our Risk Quiz here –www.whairawa.com/riskquiz

We have a Quarterly Fund Update for each fund available for you to read on the Whai Rawa website.

These reports tell you how the Funds have previously performed and what fees were charged over the respective quarter. Whai Rawa Fund Limited prepare this update in accordance with the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. The document will help you to compare the Fund with other funds. This information is not audited and may be updated.

Read the latest and historic Quarterly Fund Updates on our publications page here –www.whairawa.com/publications

As with any investment, a negative or positive return is not guaranteed. You can read more about the funds previous quarter returns and the history of the Fund here. Our Quarterly Fund Updates provide a picture of the history of the Fund, including any ups or downs. However please understand that past returns are not a guarantee of future returns.

A negative return may mean that the value of the units available to withdraw is lower.

You can read the Whai Rawa Product Disclosure Statement which you can access online here.

If you would like to seek qualified financial advice, visit the Financial Markets Authority website to view a list of registered financial advisors here. Please note this is not a subsidised benefit by Whai Rawa.

Socially Responsible means sustainable and ethical investments. It is as much about what we do invest in as what we don’t. For a full breakdown visit www.whairawa.com/socially-responsible/

Yes. If we have a current and valid email address on file for you we can now send your member statement and all other communications via email. Remember to update us if your email changes. For account updates we will occasionally send you a letter copy of the communication, this is a legal requirement.

Any complaint received by us will be investigated and we will take appropriate steps to try and resolve it. If after this, the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved, members are welcome to contact the Supervisor (Trustees Executors Limited) or Financial Services Complaint Limited (FSCL) our chosen dispute resolution provider. For members based in Australia, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) should be contacted. See all their contact details here.

A Member may transfer part or all of any amount in their Whai Rawa Accounts (Transferor) to any other Member (Transferee) (other than a Provisional Member).  If any amount transferred is eligible for Matched Savings, the Matched Savings will be credited to the Transferor Member.

The Manager may decline to register any transfer where the Member receiving the transfer is entitled to make a withdrawal or where the Manager considers the transfer is being made by a Member who may be able to apply for a withdrawal for the purpose of avoiding the restrictions on withdrawals in Whai Rawa. The Manager may impose terms and conditions on any transfer as it sees fit, subject to applicable legal restrictions.

Because of some of the unique benefits of Whai Rawa, it is not a registered New Zealand superannuation scheme. This means funds cannot be transferred into Whai Rawa from other superannuation schemes, New Zealand or overseas.