Rethinking investment: How the NZSA is changing the game

Boxers & Briefs Podcast #26: How to become an investor & guidance for shareholders with Oliver Mander

What if there was a way to make investing less intimidating and more transparent? Oliver Mander, CEO of the New Zealand Shareholders Association (NZSA), is doing just that by reimagining how individual investors can navigate the share market with confidence.

Breaking down barriers to investment

The NZSA aims to protect, enable and reward investment for individual shareholders. With six branches across New Zealand, they’re working with regulators, industry stakeholders and listed companies to improve corporate governance and strengthen relationships between companies and their shareholders.

“We work really hard to improve corporate governance across New Zealand,” Oliver explains. “We advocate for all investors to make sure that their rights are enabled and supported by listed issuers.”

Those rights matter more than you might think. Even if you only hold a small number of shares, you have the right to attend company meetings, speak to directors and ask questions about how the company is performing. The directors are your agents in the company, governing it in your interests.

The research revolution

Here’s where things get interesting. The NZSA has created something unique in the New Zealand market – Company Assessment Reports that use a traffic light system to evaluate nearly every listed company with an operating business on the NZX.

These reports look at governance, environmental sustainability and other factors that impact long-term financial performance. Instead of wading through mountains of annual reports and analyst documents, investors can get a clear picture of how companies stack up against best practice.

“We cover nearly every listed company that has an operating business on the NZX,” Oliver notes. “We’ve got what we term 100% effective coverage for the exchange.”

This comprehensive coverage comes from a small but dedicated team of researchers who not only analyse companies but also engage directly with them. If something seems off in a report, Oliver and his team can have conversations with companies to clarify context or address concerns.

Real impact, real results

The NZSA’s approach has led to tangible changes in the market. Take New Talisman Gold, where they felt the board lacked a coherent plan. After activating around the company shareholder meeting in late 2021, the board was voted off and new leadership took over. The result was a company that went from being a ‘bottomless pit’ to having a structured plan with clear outcomes for shareholders.

More recently, their work with Ryman Healthcare contributed to significant changes at that company. The NZSA raised concerns about board culture, independence and transparency around cash flow and debt management. This led to a new board, new chair, and improved disclosure standards that set a benchmark for the wider sector.

The proxy advantage

One of the NZSA’s most innovative features is their proxy voting service. Small shareholders can band together under the organisation’s voice, giving more weight to their collective concerns. Members get access to research that informs how the NZSA will vote on various resolutions, from director re-elections to capital raises.

“We have a lot of proxies from people who aren’t even members,” Oliver reveals. “If you don’t like the way we’re going to vote, you can vote yourself and that immediately overrides anything we’re going to do.”

Challenging New Zealand’s property obsession

Oliver sees a bigger picture beyond individual company improvements. New Zealand has a productivity problem, partly because of the country’s fixation on property investment. While property serves a purpose, it only takes wealth building so far.

“We’ve become very fixated in New Zealand around property,” he explains. “The way to build wealth in New Zealand and improve our productivity is for investments outside of property.”

New investor platforms and better company disclosure have created opportunities for a whole new generation of New Zealanders to build wealth through share market investment. Nearly every person in New Zealand is an investor through KiwiSaver, even if they don’t realise it.

The future of conscious investing

Today’s investors want more than just financial returns. They’re looking at how companies handle risk, whether that’s environmental, social or governance-related. Oliver points to New Zealand King Salmon as an example, where the company’s Blue Endeavour project represents a strategic response to climate change, moving fish farming to cooler waters in the Cook Strait.

“As an investor, you’re looking for how companies handle risk,” Oliver notes. “Whether those risks are financial, environmental or coming from a social licence to operate.”

Avoiding common pitfalls

Many investors fall into the trap of momentum investing – buying shares simply because the price is going up. This creates a speculative, betting-like activity rather than long-term wealth building.

The emotional attachment to particular shares poses another challenge. Investors struggle to separate emotional value from logical decisions about when to buy or sell. As Oliver puts it, sometimes you need to ‘Let it go’ – a reference that brought unexpected levity to a serious financial discussion.

Getting started without fear

For those interested in entering the share market, Oliver’s advice is straightforward. Don’t be afraid of it. Learn by doing. Have a little bit of skin in the game and see what drives your understanding.

 “I think it is very analogous to if you play with it a little bit, you learn by doing,” he suggests.

The NZSA offers membership from just $15 per month or $145 per year, making their research and advocacy accessible to individual investors. They run events around the country where members can hear directly from CEOs and industry speakers.

A new perspective on investment

The NZSA represents a shift in how we think about investing in New Zealand. Rather than seeing the share market as intimidating or exclusive, they’re making it accessible and transparent. Their work proves that individual investors don’t have to navigate complex corporate structures alone.

Through innovative research, direct company engagement and collective advocacy, they’re creating a more level playing field where every investor, regardless of the size of their portfolio, has a voice in how companies operate.

For New Zealand’s investors, this represents more than just better governance. It’s about building a culture where long-term thinking, transparency and investor rights become the norm rather than the exception.

This article and podcast is proudly brought to you by Gilligan Sheppard, the problem solvers in business who believe in thinking differently.