MER · expense ratio
Management expense ratio (MER)
A US/Canada/AU disclosure term for a fund's ongoing operating expenses as a percentage of fund value. In NZ, the equivalent disclosure is the FMA-standardised annual fund charge in the Quarterly Fund Update.
Management expense ratio (MER) is the term used in US, Canadian, and Australian fund disclosure for the total operating expenses of a fund — management fee plus operating, audit, custody and other recurring costs — expressed as an annual percentage of average fund value.
NZ retail managed funds and KiwiSaver scheme funds disclose the same concept under the FMA-standardised label "annual fund charge" in the Quarterly Fund Update. Where a NZ fund is part of an Australian-domiciled umbrella or feeds into an underlying Australian Unit Trust, both terms may appear in marketing material referring to the same fee.
MER does not include performance fees, transaction costs, or platform-level fees. The PDS fee table is the authoritative cross-check for which costs are inside a quoted MER and which sit outside it.
Related terms
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AFC · Total fund charge · MER
Annual fund charge
The total ongoing percentage charge paid out of a NZ managed fund each year — covering management fees, supervisor/custodian fees, audit, and other operating costs.
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QFU · Fund Update
Quarterly Fund Update (QFU)
A standardised FMA-mandated quarterly report each NZ retail managed fund publishes, summarising fees, returns, risk indicator, asset mix, top-10 holdings and fund size.
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PDS
Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)
The headline legal document a NZ managed fund or KiwiSaver scheme provides to retail investors, summarising the fund, fees, risks, and how to invest.