Westpac NZ hits open banking milestone.

Westpac NZ is operationally ready to work with approved third parties on delivering open banking solutions that will help improve New Zealanders’ banking experiences.

The bank confirmed it has made Payments NZ’s API Centre Payment Initiation v2.1 API Standard available for third parties to connect to.

Westpac NZ Chief Information Officer Russell Jones says work continues across the bank to make open banking a success in the months and years to come.

“We’re committed to the successful rollout and adoption of open banking, and we look forward to helping provide New Zealanders with more options for making payments and managing their money in a safe and secure way,” Mr Jones says.

“Open banking has the potential to provide far-reaching opportunities for customers to manage their money in new ways, from plugging into budgeting tools to splitting the cost of a meal in a quick and easy fashion.

“Consumer confidence is key to the successful uptake of open banking, and we continue to work with the industry on future API standards that are safe and secure, as well as providing a seamless and efficient partnering process with third parties that creates trust in the system.

“We have entered into a number of partnerships with API providers to date, and are finalising details of our API agreements with these providers.  We are also in discussions with a range of other providers regarding potential future partnerships.”

Customers looking for more information about open banking can visit the Westpac NZ website to learn more.