Most Kiwis still don’t recognise the term, survey finds
Apps and services connected to Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) requested customer account information more than 5.9 million times in August, including for loan applications. Over the same month, open banking payments processed by the bank reached almost 90,000, close to 14 times its monthly average across 2024.
August’s payment total was 12% higher than July’s. Awareness has not kept pace: around 70% of people surveyed by BNZ were unfamiliar with the term “open banking”, and 41% had never heard of it.
Loan applications in the mix
Open banking lets customers connect their bank account to an app or service of their choosing and control what it can access. Uses connected to BNZ range from budgeting and accounting to account checks and loan applications. Loan applications are the use most relevant to mortgage advisers.
BNZ head of payment development Jonathon Dale said the low awareness wasn’t a barrier.
“People don’t go looking for open banking. They want to pay for something, keep on top of their budget, or apply for a loan with less paperwork, and open banking makes that easier,” Dale said.
Industry-wide data shows a similar pattern, though it lags BNZ’s by a month. Figures published by Payments NZ show more than 401,000 open banking payments worth over $130 million were completed across New Zealand in July, up 11% on June. Successful account information requests more than doubled in two months, from 8.7 million in May to 19.2 million in July.
Accreditation underpins trust
Before any provider can access customer data or initiate a payment, it must be accredited by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and it can act only within the permissions a customer has granted. Customers can also disconnect a service at any time.
That oversight now sits more firmly with MBIE. Under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025, the ministry leads open banking standards management, with the handover from the Payments NZ API Centre continuing after the centre closed on 30 September 2026.
Surcharges shifting payment habits
Payment costs are also changing consumer behaviour. Separate consumer research from Payments NZ found four in 10 respondents had altered how they pay to avoid fees or surcharges. Surcharges were also the leading reason respondents gave for steering clear of contactless payments.
Payap, an app highlighted by BNZ, lets shoppers pay from their bank account without a card surcharge, and businesses pay less to accept those payments.
“Cards aren’t going anywhere, and they’ll keep serving people well. But open banking adds another choice, and more choice means more competition on cost and convenience,” Dale said.
He expects uptake to keep building.
“As more useful services arrive, we expect open banking to become an increasing part of our financial lives,” Dale said.
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