Aotearoa New Zealand's four largest banks say they have achieved an important milestone with their open banking implementations, potentially reshaping how consumers interact with financial services.
ANZ, ASB, BNZ, and Westpac NZ have successfully deployed the Payments NZ API Centre's Account Information API standard, a sophisticated technical framework enabling secure financial data sharing with third-party providers.
API is an acronym for application programming interface. In simple terms, an API is a set of rules, tools, and protocols that allows different software applications or systems to communicate with each other.
With the new API, consumers can now securely, and preserving privacy, share specific bank account information with registered fintech companies; this could potentially bring in a range of innovative digital financial tools and management platforms.
"We now have the four large banks ready to partner with registered fintechs and third parties using our account information API standard [from November 30]," Jane-Renee Retimana, Payments NZ's chief strategy and innovation officer said.
"This opens the door to more innovative open banking-enabled services for consumers and businesses," Retimana added.
The API standards are designed to ensure rigorous customer authentication, explicit consent mechanisms
and comprehensive data protection.
Payments NZ's Account Information API implementation follows the release of the Payments Initiation API v2.1 in May this year.
Some of the practical applications of the new API were on display at the open banking showcase held earlier this month, including local fintech Volley's identity verification system, and Australian company WeMoney's personal finance management tools.
This API milestone is part of a structured plan initiated in May 2023, with future implementations scheduled to expand open banking capabilities. Seventeen third-party providers are now positioned to explore bank partnerships.
Notably missing in the announcement is Kiwibank, which is set to join the open banking initiative in 2026.
"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," the API Centre's manager Phil Cass said.
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