Aotearoa New Zealand’s four largest banks are now ready with a second key open banking standard, opening the door for banks, fintechs and third parties to offer a wider range of open banking products and services.
ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac NZ were required to make the Payments NZ API Centre’s Account Information API standard available by tomorrow (30 November), under an open banking implementation plan agreed in May 2023.
All four banks have confirmed that they are ready to partner using the standard as of today.
Payments NZ Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Jane-Renee Retimana says the achievement of the second milestone this year shows the momentum behind open banking in Aotearoa.
“We now have the four large banks ready to partner with registered fintechs and third using our account information API standard. This opens the door to even more innovative open banking enabled services for consumers and businesses,” says Retimana.
“Being able to securely share the information they want with trusted third parties is going to directly benefit consumers, with things like digital budgeting and personal financial management tools, easier loan applications, savings advice and more.”
Examples of local and international services using account information APIs were previewed at the API Centre’s second Open Banking Showcase on 20 November, held during The Point 2024 conference in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
The showcase featured technology developed by Aotearoa fintech Volley that used an account information API to verify the identity of people being paid through the service, as well as Wych’s ‘plug and play’ platform providing rails for open banking compliance and Australian fintech WeMoney’s personal finance management and budgeting services.
API Centre manager Phil Cass says open banking progress this year has been exciting, and work is continuing to remove barriers to the ecosystem’s growth and help bring a greater range of open banking solutions to market.
“We’re continuing our partnering project to make it easier for banks and fintechs to agree terms and start delivering services based on these open banking standards,” says Cass.
“We’ve also set new milestones for implementing newer versions of our standards in 2025, which will open up further opportunities for banks to work with fintechs and offer innovative products and services to consumers.”
The API Centre will continue to work with banks over coming weeks to confirm compliance.
What is open banking?
Open banking refers to a system in which customers can make payments and instruct their banks to share their financial data, such as account information and transaction data, with third party providers like fintechs.
The safest and most secure way to share customer data is through standardised Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs. These allow two different systems (for example, a bank and a fintech) to safely communicate with each other and share information within a secured channel.
API standards are essential to open banking because they address concerns around security, privacy, and customer authentication and consent.
What is the Account Information API standard?
Jointly developed by the API Centre in collaboration with industry, the Account Information API standard allows customers to securely share specific information related to their bank account with registered third parties.
This allows third party businesses to offer useful services such as personal finance and budgeting apps and streamlined loan applications, all based on the customer’s authorisation through their bank.
Which third parties are using the Account Information API standard?
One fintech, Qippay, currently has a contract in place with a bank using our standardised Account Information API.
There are a further 17 third parties registered with the API Centre who will be able to approach all four implementing banks to begin partnering discussions, from 30 November onwards.
What is the API Centre?
Working with the industry (from banks to startups), Payments NZ’s API Centre is co-designing the open banking future of Aotearoa, by creating the framework that will ensure fast, secure, user-friendly data sharing – for all New Zealanders.
There are many open banking models around the world. Our framework creates a world-class foundation for businesses to provide leading, cost-effective products and services and give consumers confidence in how their data is accessed and shared.
The API Centre is governed by an API Council made up of representatives from across the industry. The API Council fosters a self-governing API standards service, and all Council members are required to act in the best interests of the API Centre.
What is the implementation plan?
The API Centre first published its minimum open banking implementation plan in May 2023, and updated it in October 2024.
It sets out timelines for the country’s largest banks to be operationally and technically ready to partner using the API Centre’s open banking standards.
The Payments NZ Board and the API Council set the implementation plan after extensive industry consultation.
Under the plan, ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac NZ implemented the Payment Initiation v2.1 standard earlier this year and were required to implement the Account Information v2.1 standard by 30 November.
These four banks are now also due to implement newer versions of both standards next year, with Payment Initiation v2.3 due at the end of May and Account Information v2.3 at the end of November.
Kiwibank is also included in the plan, and has an implementation timeline to be live with the Payment Initiation and Account Information v2.3 standards in May and November 2026.