Questions?

Hatch is a digital investment platform and the retail arm of FNZ, another Wellington success story. FNZ is a leading global wealth management business and provides backend technology that powers wealth building platforms like Hatch.

Hatch gives you access to the US share markets by connecting with DriveWealth, a US broker-dealer and member of SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation). SIPC is a non-profit that protects your shares up to $500,000 if a member runs into financial trouble and your investments are impacted. Find out more about how your shares and money are held through Hatch.

We started with the US share markets because they account for 85% of all global investing, yet for Kiwis, it's always been too hard and too expensive to participate. Now Kiwis have affordable access to largest share markets in the world (the NYSE and the Nasdaq).

It's free to sign up! You just need an email address and you have to create a password. You’ll immediately be able to browse shares, start a watchlist or do our free Getting Started Course.

Before you can deposit money and buy shares, we verify your identity. It takes about 3 minutes and you can do it all online with your passport or NZ driver's licence details. We also ask you some multi-choice questions to collect information we need to know before you can invest through Hatch.

Individuals: You have to be over 18 to open your own Hatch account. Before you buy shares, you’ll need to get verified online with either a passport (from anywhere in the world) or a New Zealand driver’s licence.

Under 18s: Parents and guardians can open Hatch Kids Accounts through their own Hatch account. You’ll just need your child’s birth certificate or guardianship order. If you’re not signed up with Hatch yet, you’ll need to create your own account first (it’ll only take 3 minutes).

Trusts: Family trusts are welcome to use Hatch. Get in touch and we'll send you some quick and easy forms. Once we have your information, we'll create your account as fast as we can.

As soon as you get verified (it takes just 3 minutes!), you can use online banking to deposit NZD into our NZ bank account. You’ll have a unique code that you can add into the ‘Reference’ field when you make your payment to make sure your money goes straight into your Hatch account. When you sign into Hatch you’ll be able to see all of your deposits.

We automatically exchange your NZD to USD. A 0.5% fee is included in the estimated exchange rate you see in Hatch. If you deposit before 2pm on any business day, your money should be in your Hatch account early the following morning, when the US markets open.

See full Hatch pricing.

You can choose to withdraw your USD to your NZ bank account whenever you want. You just have to sell your shares so your USD is available to withdraw. Once you request a withdrawal we'll exchange your USD to NZD  automatically.

We collect a bank statement for each account you want to withdraw money to. This is a security check to make sure your money is going back to you.

You’ll pay a 0.5% exchange fee when you withdraw money. See full Hatch pricing.

You can place orders 24/7, even when the US share markets are closed. Sign in to your Hatch account, choose the shares you want to buy, and click ‘buy’. It costs $3 USD for every order of up to 300 shares (or 50c USD for every order of up to 50 shares for Kids Accounts) and you can buy fractions of shares. See our full pricing.

You can place market, limit and stop-loss/stop-buy orders, or set up auto-investments at any time. If you’re not sure what to invest in, we have some helpful tips on how to choose.

There’s no minimum when you invest with Hatch.

A lot of new investors start with $100 that they consider education money. Some investors start with a small amount to try Hatch out, other experienced ones start with much more (contact us about our special fees for deposits of $100k or more). The best way to get started is by using an amount you’re comfortable with.

Absolutely. Hatch makes investing easy and rewarding for newbies, novices and experts. Thanks to fractional investing, low fees, and no minimum amounts, you can start with as much or as little as you like.

Hatch is here to help you build long-term wealth. We’re here to help Kiwis invest in quality businesses, encourage great investing habits, and learn more about the world of investing. This isn’t about day trading. Even if you’ve never invested before, our helpful team can help you start on the right track.

Still not sure? Get in touch for more tailored information.

You can see our full pricing here, but it’s pretty straightforward:

Sign up: free

Sign up to Hatch for free and immediately browse and add companies and Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to your watchlist. You can learn about investing and monitor shares for as long as you like without paying a cent.

Exchange fee: 0.5%

When you deposit or withdraw money, we automatically exchange it from NZD to USD (and vice versa). Our 0.5% exchange fee is included in the estimated exchange rate you see in Hatch. We have special rates for deposits over $100,000 - contact us to hear more.

You only pay the exchange fee when you deposit or withdraw, and there are no hidden extra fees for withdrawals.

Brokerage: $3 USD to buy and sell shares

Adults: You’ll pay a flat fee of $3 USD fee for every order of up to 300 shares. If you buy more than 300 shares in one order, you'll only pay 1c USD a share.

Under 18s: We’ve lowered our usual $3 USD minimum brokerage fee to an absurdly small 50c USD on Kids Accounts - more about Kids Account fees.

US tax: $1.50 USD (one-off), 50c USD a year

A one-off $1.50 USD fee is deducted from your first deposit to cover the set-up, and after that, a 50c USD fee is deducted from your account each year to sort your US taxes for you. Hatch makes NZ tax time easy too (promise)! It’s nowhere near as hard as you might think, find out more about tax here.

Transfer your US shares
With Hatch, your own shares which means you can transfer your US shares in or out of Hatch, any time you want. There may be fees that apply during the transfer process depending where you are transferring from. Learn more about transferring.

American Depository Receipts (ADRs)
You can invest in a range of different types of US investments through Hatch including American Depository Receipts (ADRs). The fees cover the costs of managing all registration, compliance and record-keeping services associated with listing foreign shares as ADRs. Find out more about the fees here.

Hatch makes tax time easy. All your US tax is automatically paid on your behalf, and we give you all the info you need to sort your NZ taxes at the end of each tax year.

If you have less than $50,000 invested overseas, you might not even need to pay tax on your Hatch shares. If you've received less than $200 NZD (before tax) of income (e.g. less than $200 of dividends from your Hatch shares), you generally don't even need to file a return. If you do, it's a simple online form.

How tax works with Hatch

How tax works on Kids Accounts

Yes. But, for safety and convenience, your name isn’t on the share certificate. The certificate will show that the shares are held "in DriveWealth's name for the benefit of the Hatch customer". It may feel different from NZ, but is common practice in the US and is known as “In Street Name”.

Unlike the nominee structures provided by some investing platforms, holding your shares In Street Name doesn't diminish your rights as the shareowner. You’re considered a direct owner of your shares, can transfer your full shares to and from Hatch at any time, get shareholder benefits and voting rights.

If you’re managing a Kids Account, the child owns their investments. See how it works.

There’s no minimum when you invest with Hatch.

Hatch gives you access to the US share markets. Through Hatch, you can buy and sell shares in over 5,800+ companies and 1,900+ exchange traded funds (ETFs) from professional fund managers like Vanguard, BlackRock, and Ark.

You can also become a shareholder in over 500 ADRs. ADRs allow you to invest in foreign companies from a range of countries such as China, Taiwan and India - companies like Nio and Alibaba.

A lot of investors have already embraced our low cost, high quality investing experience, and transferred US shares and USD from their existing NZ or international broker. We do the grunt work and help with the transfer costs, so get in touch to get the ball rolling!

There were 190 IPOs in the US in 2018, and both 2019 and 2020 were banner years for well-known billion-dollar companies hitting the US share markets. Hatch has already welcomed Uber, Lyft, Slack, Pinterest, Beyond Meat, Chewy, Airbnb and Zoom (and many others!).

You can’t invest in the IPO directly (because those offers are only made in the USA), but Hatch customers can invest as soon as a new listing hits the share markets, allowing Kiwis to be among the first to benefit from the success of the world's most recognisable brands.

All dividends you receive through Hatch are paid out in USD into your Hatch account. You can choose to use them to buy more shares, or to withdraw them whenever you like. More about receiving dividends.

An ETF is a fund that you can invest in through the share markets (i.e. exchange traded). Think of the fund as a shipping container full of investments. If you invest in an ETF, you buy a share in the container and own a tiny slice of every investment in it. Rather than picking a handful of individual companies yourself (putting all your eggs in a few baskets), with ETFs you can automatically spread your investment over tens, or hundreds of companies.

Hatch gives Kiwis access to over 1,900 ETFs. Among the most popular is the  Vanguard S&P 500, but you can also invest in female leaders, Millennials, e-commerce industries, and much, much more.

It’s as secure as the decisions you make.

The businesses behind Hatch

Hatch is a digital investment platform and the retail arm of FNZ, another Wellington success story. FNZ is a leading global wealth management business and provides backend technology that powers wealth building platforms like Hatch.

When you sign up to Hatch, you get your own US brokerage account through our US broker DriveWealth.

Keeping your money secure

In the case of a DriveWealth insolvency, under US regulation, the customer (that’s you) is the first creditor. This means you get your cash and securities back in the event of a liquidation.

Brokers in the US are members of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Each customer account of member sof the SIPC (e.g. your Hatch account) is insured for up to $500,000 (with a maximum of $250,000 in cash). Find out more about where your shares and money are held.

We've been through security audits and will continue to regularly do so. All information is encrypted and we adhere to the latest security practices (OWASP).

Our US broker, DriveWealth also undergo security audits and have comprehensive data security policies.

We don't collect more information than we need, only what US and NZ regulators require in order to comply with AML legislation.