Minister Simpson’s announcement on 1st May of the decision to regulate open banking is momentous for payment initiation services like POLi.
From 1 December, ASB, Westpac, ANZ and BNZ will be required to connect MBIE accredited service providers to their open banking APIs.
The Minister’s announcement coincided with the news that POLi and ASB are partnering to enable open banking payments. POLi is fully committed to transition our business to open banking APIs as soon as they become available.
We plan to transition all of our payments initiated for customers of ASB, Westpac, ANZ and BNZ to open banking APIs from 1 December. We will transition our Kiwibank transactions to open banking once their API is available, likely around mid 2026.
For payments initiated for customers of other banks, we will continue to support the authorisation of those transactions via our existing technology platform, until they have open banking APIs in market.
From POLi’s perspective, the Minister’s decision is a game changer for the sector. It sweeps away the complexity of negotiating bespoke access agreements with individual banks, each with a different take on how open banking should operate.
For merchants, the good news is that no action is required for individual companies to transition to open banking.
New Zealand fintechs including POLi have long advocated for open banking, which offers consumers greater choice and control over their payments experience, and it’s exciting to see that goal close to being realised.
Business and consumers will be the winners as open banking will encourage the development of innovative and lower cost products and services.