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Rob-advice offers the opportunity to get KiwiSaver advice to everyone, not just the rich.

Kiwi Wealth is the first financial services provider to get the go-ahead to provide robo-advice.

Robo-advice is the provision of personalised advice generated by artificial intelligence.

It holds out the promise of being able to get personalised financial advice to the masses, not just those with the wealth to pay a human adviser.

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Kiwi Wealth's Joe Bishop said people weren't resistant to getting advice from an artificial intelligence system, as long as there were humans they could talk to, if they needed.

The Financial Markets Authority has given Kiwi Wealth, which is a sister company to Kiwibank, an "exemption" from the legal requirement for financial advice to be given by a person.

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Joe Bishop from Kiwi Wealth said the FMA's approval was a "major step toward improving the financial future of all New Zealanders".

"Robo-advice is here. It will reinvent the way Kiwis manage their finances and give access to personalised financial advice that's previously been out of reach for most people," he said.

Kiwi Wealth had spent the past three years developing its advice platform for its Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver members, he said, prompted by observing developments overseas.

"We saw first-hand what was happening globally in robo-advice and knew that we could lead its development and application in New Zealand," he said.

"Being the first to receive the FMA's approval to provide robo-advice in New Zealand is a milestone for our business. For our team, it's an acknowledgement of all the work we've done, as well as our credibility and expertise in innovation>"

Robo-advice will be built into Kiwi Wealth's Future You online retirement saving planning tool, and will go public in June.

It would give members of the Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver Scheme personalised advice on which of Kiwi Wealth's KiwiSaver investment funds would best suit them based on their retirement income goals.

"That might seem a fairly straight-forward piece of advice but it's advice that, under current legislation, could only be given by an authorised financial adviser – a human," said Bishop.

Once launched, the robo-advice capabilities will be expanded to include more than just KiwiSaver.

Kiwis would accept advice from a money robot, Bishop said.

"We surveyed more than a thousand Kiwis in 2016 to look at attitudes toward robo-advising. It was fascinating to find that most people were very open to it but that they still wanted a real people available to help them with some decisions," he said.

 - Stuff