Bonus Bonds - Our company

Bonus Bonds

Bonus Bonds logo

The Bonus Bonds brand has been a kiwi favourite since 1970, giving New Zealanders a unique way to save and have chances to win life-changing tax-paid cash prizes.

In fact today nearly a quarter of New Zealanders own Bonus Bonds and the Bonus Bonds Trust is New Zealand's largest retail unit trust.

Bonus Bonds was founded in 1970 and has operated in the form of a unit trust since 1990. When bondholders purchase Bonus Bonds, their money is collected together with the money from all other bondholders and held in trust. Called the Bonus Bonds Trust, the Trust is supervised by the Trustee Executors Limited, an independent corporate trustee.

Since 1970 (at August 2009) Bonus Bonds have paid out 51,113,233 prizes totalling $1,831,187,000.

A $1MILLION grand prize is paid to one winning bondholder each month along with five prizes of $100,000, five prizes of $50,000 plus multiple prizes of $20, $50, $100, $500 and $5,000. The mix of prizes in a month may vary. The mix of major prizes will include no less than $1MILLION prize, one $100,000 prize and one $50,000 prize.

Key facts

Bonus Bonds are assigned New Zealand's first AAAf fund credit rating from Standard & Poor's, a leading worldwide provider of independent credit ratings. AAAf is the top rating available.
Bonus Bonds differ from most other savings products in that the income earned from investing all bondholders' funds is placed in a prize pool and paid as tax-paid cash prizes in each monthly prize draw.
Currently, the chance of each Bonus Bond winning a prize ranges from between 1 in 9,600 and 1 in 16,000.
Bonus Bonds winning numbers are drawn at random by 'Elsie', a computer that used to fill a small room in 1970, but is now a far less spectacular (but much more user-friendly), desktop computer.
Because prizes are tax-paid, bondholders do not need to declare Bonus Bonds prize winnings in their tax returns.
Bonus Bonds are first eligible for the monthly prize draws when you've held them for one complete calendar month following their purchase date. For example, if you buy Bonus Bonds anytime during March, they will be eligible for the prize draws from May onwards. A minimum purchase of $20 applies.

Bonus Bonds are units in the Bonus Bonds Trust and are not deposits or other liabilities of ANZ National Bank Limited. In any month, the number of Bonus Bonds prizes and total payout are subject to change. The principal and returns of Bonus Bonds are not guaranteed and are subject to investment risk. Bonus Bonds investment portfolio is rated AAAf* by Standard and Poor's, which indicates that "The Trust Fund's portfolio holdings provide extremely strong protection against losses from credit defaults". However, a fund credit rating issued by Standard & Poor's is and must be construed solely as a statement of opinion and not a statement of fact or recommendation to purchase, sell or hold Bonus Bonds. Further important rating information is disclosed in the registered prospectus. A copy of the registered prospectus and a summary of Bonus Bonds terms and conditions are available at www.bonusbonds.co.nz, any ANZ branch or your local PostShop. ANZ Investment Services (New Zealand) Limited is the manager and promoter of the Bonus Bonds Trust.

*Fund credit quality ratings, which range from 'AAAf' (highest level of protection) to 'CCCf' (lowest level of protection), are identified by the subscript 'f' for fund, and represent Standard & Poor's assessment of the overall credit quality of a fund's portfolio holdings.