Retail payment changes expected as New Zealand advances open banking

New Zealand’s move towards open banking could introduce new retail payment options and increase competition in the country’s payment market, according to an update from the New Zealand Commerce Commission.

In a letter published on 5 March 2026, the regulator outlined progress in implementing open banking within the retail payment system, part of broader reforms aimed at improving competition and efficiency in everyday payments used by businesses and consumers.

The Commission said industry work on open banking infrastructure is continuing as banks and financial technology providers prepare new services based on secure data-sharing systems.

The update forms part of the Commission’s oversight of payment networks under the Retail Payment System Act 2022.

New Zealand introduced regulated open banking in December 2025 under rules linked to the Customer and Product Data Act 2025.

The framework requires major banks to provide standardised application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow authorised third-party providers to access financial data or initiate payments with customer consent.

The first phase applies to the country’s largest banks — ANZ, ASB Bank, Bank of New Zealand and Westpac New Zealand — which were required to make open banking systems available from December 2025.

Kiwibank is expected to join the framework in stages during 2026. Payment initiation services are scheduled to begin from June 2026, followed by wider data access later in the year.

The Commerce Commission said the move to secure APIs will replace older data-sharing practices such as screen-scraping. The transition is intended to improve reliability, security and consumer control over financial data.

The development of open banking could create account-to-account payment options that allow customers to pay directly from their bank accounts during online or in-store purchases.

Such systems could offer retailers alternatives to traditional card payments, which rely on global card networks and associated merchant fees. The Commission has already introduced rules limiting interchange fees on Visa and Mastercard transactions as part of wider retail payment reforms.

Open banking payment initiation may allow payment providers to build services that connect directly to bank accounts. These systems could be used in e-commerce checkouts, mobile payments or other digital payment environments.

Industry groups have said open banking may support greater competition in the payment sector by allowing new financial technology providers to develop alternative payment services.

The Commerce Commission said it will continue to monitor the rollout of open banking and assess feedback from banks, fintech firms and industry participants.

The regulator’s role under the Retail Payment System Act is to promote competition and efficiency across payment networks used by consumers and businesses. This includes card payments, bank transfers, digital wallets and other emerging payment systems.

Open banking forms part of the wider modernisation of New Zealand’s payment infrastructure.

The next stage of implementation will determine how quickly new payment services reach the market and how widely they are adopted by retailers and consumers.

“Retail payment changes expected as New Zealand advances open banking” was originally created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand.

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