Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer: If you’ve heard talk of open banking in recent weeks, you might have wondered exactly what it is.

It’s been a topic of discussion in the finance sector for years, and is often touted as a way that New Zealanders could get a better deal on their banking.

But how does it really work?

What is open banking anyway?

Basically, open banking means data is shared easily between banks and other financial services providers.

This means transactions can happen more freely and it’s easier for customers to use services from different places.

The exchange of information happens via application programming interfaces (APIs).

Payments NZ has been developing API standards with the industry.

At the moment, there are three key standards to be aware of. The payment initiation API allows customers to set up payments from their accounts through a website, app or registered third-party.

The account information API allows third-party users to access specific information about the customers’ account, and the event notification API allows third parties to be told about changes in the status of a customer’s consent – such as when they no longer want their information shared.

Why do we want this?

The hope is that it will create more competition because it will be easier for consumers to shop around for better products and services.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson said it could help develop more useful budgeting tools, options for fast mortgage comparisons and new payment methods.

People might be able to receive more accurate information from comparison sites, using their actual data and could switch banks almost instantly.

Mortgage applications could be a lot easier if the data could be automatically gathered in one place.

“Budgeting becomes easier too. Instead of trawling through statements, secure open banking tools can highlight spending patterns, help you stay on top of bills, and identify ways to reach your savings goals,” Simpson said.

“Small businesses will also benefit from more choice in financial management and invoicing tools, helping them get paid faster and access innovative, lower-cost payment solutions.”

Claire Matthews, a banking expert at Massey University, said a lot of the innovations were already available. BNZ’s Payap was an example of new payments systems for businesses, Volley allowed people to make payments securely, Dosh and Revolut were fintechs coming into the market and SortMe and BudgetBuddie were offering easier personal financial management.

Payments NZ noted that Volley recently partnered with Givealittle as a payment option.

“Seeing New Zealanders embrace open banking so quickly through Givealittle has been really encouraging. Donations are such a powerful human expression of generosity, and people are likely to give more when the process is simple, fast, and trustworthy,” Jack Callister, Volley co-founder said.

“With Volley, all someone needs to do is tap or scan a QR code, approve the payment in their banking app, and they’re done. Making payments easy and secure is exactly what open banking is designed to achieve.”

What’s open banking been used for overseas?

Open banking is used in a number of ways overseas.

Australian customers of Sharesies allow it to access their bank accounts and round up every transaction to a pre-selected amount and invest the difference.

In the UK, Little Birdie is a subscription and bill management app that spots unused subscriptions. The Snoop budgeting app helps provide information on upcoming bills so people know how much they need to set aside.

What’s changed now?

From 1 December, regulations took effect that mean ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac are required to have open banking systems in place.

The regulations require that data can only be shared with the customer’s explicit authorisation, and all businesses that access the information must be accredited by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

MBIE is now accepting applications from organisations wanting to become accredited data requesters. Accredited data requesters will be identified with MBIE’s “trust mark for accreditation”.

What concerns are there?

A big concern has been how slow New Zealand has been to adopt open banking.

Consumer NZ investigative writer Ruairi O’Shea said the organisation was a big fan of open banking technology.

“Open banking puts consumers – not their banks – in charge of who can access their financial information, opening the door for third parties to provide a range of new services from budgeting tools and subscription management apps, to being able to instantly demonstrate the affordability of a loan.

“As consumers are better able to understand their money, and to shop around for services, banks will be forced to up their game if they want to maintain customers, leading to greater competition and better service.

“Consumers in other jurisdictions have had access to open banking for years, and improved financial wellbeing as a result – New Zealanders deserve this too.”

O’Shea said open banking was safe.

“Service providers must meet security requirements to be accredited to provide open banking services. The risk is that consumers, who are now being told that it is okay to give new businesses access to their financial data, could be tricked into providing access to scammers. If you have any doubts about open banking, or a business providing open banking services, contact your bank before providing access to your financial information.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Westpac NZ is offering interest-free, home loan top-ups to improve the resilience of homes to natural hazards and extreme weather.

The five-year interest-free home loan of up to $50,000 would cover such things as installing ground moisture barriers under homes, improving drainage on properties and carrying out work to raise outdoor electrical appliances above potential flood levels.

It said a recent survey of nearly 1100 Westpac customers indicated 60 percent were concerned about the risks of flooding and severe weather events on their property, while 80 percent were concerned about the risks to their town or city.

Westpac managing director for product, sustainability & marketing Sarah Hearn said the bank was the first to offer risk mitigation measures as part of its sustainable home lending programme.

“New Zealand has always had extreme weather, but recent research from Earth Sciences NZ shows these events are now happening more frequently,” she said.

Programme to be expanded in February

Westpac will expand the programme from 2 February to include major work options, such as raising a house above potential flood levels and chimney removal.

“We’re also working with our business customers to help them to invest in resilience measures and assess the impacts of climate change on their operations,” Hearn said.

Westpac’s Greater Choices home-loan top-up programme already supported investment in energy efficiency improvements, such as heat pumps, ventilation, solar power systems and electric vehicles.

Westpac NZ 2025 sustainability update highlights

• Committed $7.6 billion in sustainable lending as at 30 September 2025
• Provided more than $730 million in lending to affordable housing
• Fundraised a record $1.5m for NZ’s rescue helicopters through the annual Westpac Chopper Appeal
• Delivered financial education to more than 13,000 workshop attendees
• Invested $11.6m in New Zealand communities, including more than 35,000 hours of volunteer leave to staff
• Increased fraud prevention rates by 27 percent.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Insolvencies rise in third quarter, but down on year ago
• Failures reflect economic “game of two halves”
• Signs of economic improvement, but outlook bleak for weak companies
• Creditors finishing off companies that cannot survive
• Construction biggest insolvency group, hospitality second

The number of companies going broke has increased in recent months as creditors take a harsh view, but they are down on a year ago amid signs of economic recovery.

The latest report from BWA Insolvency for the September quarter showed a 5 percent rise in the number of insolvencies to 777 on the previous quarter, but down 6 percent on the same period in 2024.

BWA Insolvency principal Bryan Williams said the number of insolvencies reflected an economic “game of two halves”.

“On one side, you’ve got irrepressible forward-looking indicators-share prices rising, real estate agents bouncing back, building permits up, and even ready-mix concrete demand forecasts improving.”

“But then there’s the other half: companies weighed down by cost inflation, credit tightening, and enforcement for unpaid taxes.”

“For those burdened with debt that earnings can’t service, the future is bleak,” Williams said.

Creditors opt for healthy destruction

There was a clear hardening of attitudes among creditors, which he called healthy destruction, Williams said.

“Creditors are accelerating the exit of firms that can’t recover. It’s a harsh reality, but it’s shaping the market.”

There was still a reasonable number of companies to fail even as economic conditions improved, he said.

“There is still alI those companies hanging on by the end of their fingers, and that’s quite a pipeline, I imagine it will be well into the third quarter of next year before we see a downturn in actual liquidations.”

Construction remained the industry with the most insolvencies, 192 in the quarter, a slight reduction on the previous and a year ago.

“Although it appears over represented in insolvency data, its failings are proportionally low compared to its economic weight, especially when you compare it to sectors like hospitality, which runs a close second in insolvency stakes but contributes far less to GDP.”

The sector with the biggest insolvency increase was transport and delivery, followed by manufacturing, and food and beverage which were being squeezed variously by rising costs and soft demand, issues which were structural and not cyclical.

The economic signs were looking more positive overall, Williams said.

However, he lamented that administration, a ring fencing of a company to try to find a solution to its financial troubles, was barely used in this country.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Only two sectors have not experienced a reduction in their wages in real terms over the past year, data shows.

While inflation was running at a 3 percent annual rate in the year to September, wage inflation increased at a rate of 2.1 percent – or 2.4 percent for those in the public sector.

Using labour cost index data, only local government administration roles had an increase in pay once inflation adjusted, in the year, up 0.3 percent, and health care and social services were just above zero.

Everyone else ended the year worse off on average.

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said there had been a long period where wages had not increase as much in the local government sector, so there was an element of catch-up happening.

“They are trying to do more with everything going on with the infrastructure, water and everything. And they’ve had to hire people from the private sector, essentially.”

Wages in healthcare had been boosted through collective agreements taking effect but that was another sector that had gone through periods of convergence, where wages caught up, and then fell behind again, he said.

There had not been as much of a need for businesses to pay higher wages in the past couple of years, and many had not been able to, he said.

“Their profits are under pressure and they don’t need to because we’re desperate for any vacancies that are available and you’re grateful to have a job. This is the classic of a weak economy. Part of the adjustment happens to the labour force, either through a combination of reduced hours, job losses and changes in wage structures. And this recession we’ve seen mainly reduced hours and wage inflation being very contained.”

Wage rises were likely to be modest next year, too, because of the competition for vacancies, Eaqub said.

“The early part of the recovery will come from increases in hours worked rather than increases in hiring, because compared to previous economic cycles, we haven’t shared as many workers as we normally would. The unemployment rate hasn’t peaked as high as in previous cycles.

“The early part of the recovery will not require new recruitment, rather just winding up the hours. And so until we get into that highly competitive labour market, wage inflation won’t accelerate sharply, but it will happen. And my expectation is towards the second half of next year, we’re going to stop complaining about not having enough sales and start complaining about not having enough workers.”

He said that was because the working age population was not likely to grow quickly because there was little immigration happening.

“That tap is going to take a while to wind up because that always lags the cycles.”

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said businesses had been saying they intended to hire more staff over the coming year.

“We’re now seeing job ads start to lift in tandem. What we haven’t seen yet is evidence of that coming through in actual employment growth. Prospects for next year look more encouraging though as confidence in a broadening economic recovery grows. The labour market does tend to lag other economic indicators.

“We’re forecasting solid levels of employment growth from the first quarter of 2026. But I think key will be how this matches off against growth in labour supply. It may not be until the second half of the year that pace of hiring is sufficient to soak up the labour market capacity that currently exists. That’s when the unemployment rate will start to come down and for many it will feel like an economic recovery. We’re forecasting the unemployment rate to remain above 5 percent until the second half of 2026.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New rules will make gift cards more generous – but not until next year, and shoppers are being warned to be wary this Christmas.

From March next year, gift cards will be required to have an expiry date not less than three years from the date the card was sold.

But the law change only takes effect for cards sold from that point so people are being warned to check the terms and conditions of any they buy this month.

National MP Dan Bidois said during the final reading of the bill to enact the change that people in New Zealand could be losing anything from $20-$40m in unused gift cards every year.

Consumer had been pushing for a five-year expiry date but said the three-year rule was a win for consumers. It said gift cards could be nothing more than a “gift to the retailer” if the expiry date was short and people did not have time to use them.

Consumer NZ spokesperson Abby Damen said the law change was the result of “years of campaigning” to end unfair gift card expiry dates.

The change brings us in line with Australia.

But in Australia, shoppers have been warned about “activation” rules. It was reported that a man was caught out when he did not activate gift cards given to him by his employer in time.

He was told the cards had to be activated within six months of being issued. The Australian regulator said gift card laws should void any terms and conditions that reduced a gift card expiry to less than the three years Australia’s law required.

The same should apply here, Damen said.

“If a retailer attempts to claim gift cards have to be activated within a certain time frame, we think this would breach the Fair Trading Act. However, the new rules don’t apply to all gift cards. For example, if you return something to a store and are issued a credit note or gift card, this doesn’t have to be valid for three years so be sure to read the fine print,” Damen said.

“While we’re thrilled to see a minimum three-year expiry on gift cards from next year, nothing truly beats gifting cash – no strings attached.”

Some cards are excluded from the rule change, including a voucher supplied when items are returned, a public transport voucher, a debit card that allows cash withdrawals or loyalty programme cards.

Consumer Protection advises that is may be a good idea to buy vouchers that can be used at more than one shop, and check how it can be redeemed.

It also said people should buy vouchers by credit card so that if the business went into liquidation soon afterwards the transaction could be reversed. Voucher-holders are often out of pocket when a business fails.

It said gift vouchers should not have any additional fees or charges, although Prezzy Cards did have a fee.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• New RBNZ Governor has an assured first public outing
• Anna Breman repeats a laser focus on low and stable inflation
• Wants greater transparency on rate decision making, communication
• RBNZ has a strong global reputation

Greater transparency and a focus on low and stable inflation were the key messages from the Reserve Bank’s new governor, Anna Breman, in a confident and comfortable first public appearance.

She appeared before Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure select committee, alongside the newly appointed chair Roger Finlay, for the annual review of the central bank’s performance.

On only her second day in the job she was not in a position to comment on what Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds called a “tumultuous year”, in which former governor Adrian Orr abruptly resigned, the stand-in governor Christian Hawkesby resigned when he failed to get the top job, and the RBNZ board chair Neil Quigley resigned for handling of the aftermath of Orr’s departure.

Breman essentially reprised her comments when she was unveiled as the new governor in October.

“Key focus for the bank under my leadership will be to stay laser focused on our core mandate, and that is low and stable inflation, stable financial system, and a safe and efficient payments system, and importantly that means ensuring cash is available to all New Zealanders.”

“As we head in 2026 transparency and accountability and clear communication will be our focus to maintain trust and credibility with New Zealanders.”

How the rate committee voted

Breman said she would discuss with members of the rate setting Monetary Policy Committee the prospect of publicly revealing individual voting decisions.

However, the Labour Party MPs suggested having various views of the seven members of the committee made public might be confusing, and leave members open to lobbying.

“It is imperative to have a good discussion, that people are allowed diversity of thought, it’s not just they are allowed it but should be encouraged,” Breman said, adding whatever approach was taken would be based on what was good and appropriate for New Zealand.

She said that could also include in the economic forecasting ahead of decisions, with people being asked to take contrary views to test all options.

Asked about her view on the bond buying policy the RBNZ adopted to pump $53 billion into the economy during the pandemic, she said it was a mechanism that had been used by other central banks around the world at the time.

“This is an unusual monetary policy tool, you want to keep it in the overall toolbox , being very mindful of having the OCR (official cash rate) as your primary monetary policy instrument.”

Meanwhile, RBNZ officials said the recent restructuring to meet its reduced budget resulted in 68 redundancies at a cost of $2.6m.

Chairman Finlay said the RBNZ would soon release its decisions on the amount of capital banks should hold.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The new governor of the Reserve Bank is appearing before Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee in her first round of public questioning.

You can watch the committee live at the top of this page…

Anna Breman is the first woman to be governor of the RBNZ, starting her five-year term on Monday.

She will be appearing alongside new RBNZ board chairman Rodger Finlay and other senior leaders.

Breman was previously first deputy governor of the Swedish central bank (Riksbank).

She is the RBNZ’s first permanent governor since the abrupt resignation of Adrian Orr in March, and replaces Orr’s temporary replacement, Christian Hawkesby.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Many organisations are overlooking the cost of job insecurity in the workplace when aiming to boost efficiencies.

Business consultancy Baker Tilly Staples Rodway said restructuring could make teams less productive in the long run.

Associate Felicity Salter said restructuring was often unavoidable, but the financial logic of reducing headcount could be undermined if the remaining workforce became more cautious, less collaborative and less engaged.

“We see higher levels of absenteeism, higher safety incidences, and sometimes those incidences aren’t reported because there’s that fear of losing their job in an already uncertain environment.

“We’re seeing lack of innovation and lower performance as well, which is a bit counterproductive.

“You’d sort of expect people to perform higher in these conditions, to safeguard their roles. But that’s not actually what we’re seeing.”

She said global studies showed a rise in job insecurity resulted in a drop in productivity.

“Other studies indicate that insecure employees are more likely to hoard knowledge or hide information to appear indispensable, which is linked to reduced company performance.

“There is also evidence across multiple industries that insecurity erodes people’s sense of autonomy and control, lowering engagement, dulling innovation and reducing their willingness to invest time and energy into their roles.”

Still, Salter said there were ways to balance right-sizing a workforce without destabilising the teams that needed to be retained.

“Business leaders needed to be aware of warning signs, with practical steps to mitigate any fallout.”

She said communication was critically important, along with real engagement with staff, support programmes, and a focus on ensuring compensation policies were up-to-date.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Falls in Bitcoin’s value are typical of the cryptocurrency’s high levels of volatility, experts say, but having a proponent in the White House is likely to put a floor under its price.

The price of Bitcoin has fallen significantly after a volatile year.

In mid-October it hit a record of more than NZ$214,000 but it has dropped sharply since then, back to levels last seen in April. Prices are now about 7 percent lower year-on-year and down 20 percent in a month.

“It’s been a pretty bouncy road this year for Bitcoin, post Trump coming in,” Rupert Carlyon, founder of Koura KiwiSaver said. Koura offers a crypto fund.

“Twelve months ago, Trump came in, it all got quite frothy and then it kept on building.

“This time, with all the nervousness in the last couple of weeks around, is the US Fed actually going to continue with the cutting cycle, is AI massively overblown, is the tech sector overblown? … When the stock market has a sneeze Bitcoin catches pneumonia and that’s a bit what we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks.

“Is it existential? No. Is this very similar to what we’ve seen repeatedly over the last couple of years? Yes. Why would this time be different? There’s nothing that I can see which says this is going to be different.”

He said liquidity could be a risk to the cryptocurrency.

“The big thing with Bitcoin now is the liquidity trade. What that means is how much spare money is sloshing around.

“And I think with the combination of the US shutdown, with some concerns around the direction of where the US Fed are likely to go and how easy they’re going to make money through conditions, probably the big risk factor is does liquidity dry up? But that goes counter to absolutely everything that Donald Trump wants to do. And he’s going to bully his way, I think, to get the opposite impact. So that’s why I remain confident.”

Trump has been a supporter of cryptocurrencies since he took office again.

“From a markets perspective, I remain confident that Donald Trump will do everything in his power to boost global, to boost financial markets, whether that be the stock market, whether that be Bitcoin. He’s got a real desire and he sees that the financial markets are a true kind of judgement on his presidency. And that gives me confidence that the White House will continue to step in as and when necessary.”

Muhammad Cheema, a senior lecturer in finance at Otago University, said Bitcoin was originally promoted as a safe haven asset but had never behaved like one.

“In fact, Bitcoin has proven to be even riskier than the stock market. For instance, in one of my papers … we find that ‘Bitcoin moves in tandem with stock market losses and does not serve as a safe haven during Covid’. During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bitcoin lost almost 46 percent of its value on a single day – March 12, 2020, while the S&P 500 fell by about 10 percent on that day. This clearly shows that Bitcoin is an extremely risky and speculative asset.

“Like most speculative assets, Bitcoin’s price is driven primarily by investor sentiment. Traditional assets such as equities have fundamental value because they represent ownership in firms that generate income. Bitcoin, by contrast, has no underlying cash flow; its value depends almost entirely on market perception. Many investors implicitly rely on the greater fool theory – the belief that an asset can be sold at a higher price to someone else. Investor sentiment is currently weak due to economic uncertainty, geopolitical risks, trade tensions, and broader market volatility.”

Alex Sims, a professor in the University of Auckland law school, said Bitcoin’s price was still up significantly over a longer period.

“The current price is actually just under what it was a year ago. But in the past 12 months it fell, then rose and now has fallen again. However, Bitcoin is significantly higher than it was two years ago. These price movements are typical of Bitcoin.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Single retired women turning to reverse mortgages

Single women are turning to reverse mortgages as a way to get more cash flow in retirement – and some commentators say it may sometimes be because the adjustment to a “single” pension rate is too tough.

Professor Graham Squires from Lincoln University has conducted research on reverse mortgages in New Zealand.

“This research has not been conducted in New Zealand before, and it is timely given the trajectory of our ageing population and the financial pressures retirees face,” he said.

He said while reverse mortgages were relatively niche, only offered by Heartland Bank and Southland Building Society, they could become more common.

“Reverse mortgages can be useful, but they come with sensitivities around debt and intergenerational wealth,” he said. “If someone remortgages their house later in life, this can affect the level of debt a person holds, potentially passing it on to their children. Our research aimed to provide an objective understanding of how these loans are actually used.”

He said the average amount borrowed was just under $50,000 and 95 percent were voluntarily repaid before the borrower died.

The typical applicant was a 72-year-old single woman.

He said New Zealanders appeared more cautious than Australians, who often borrowd up to the maximum permitted amount.

“Here in New Zealand, the market is highly regulated to help protect financially vulnerable people – those who are struggling financially and repayments may be difficult to make. I believe this research shows that New Zealanders are sensible by not taking out large loans in their retirement years, and that appropriate safeguards are in place. What is vital in the future is the need for people to be financially literate, so they understand what financial options are available to them and what the most appropriate might be.”

Ralph Stewart, whose business Lifetime Retirement Income offers Lifetime Home, a different model that allows people to sell a stake in their house in return for ongoing income, said his clients were also commonly single females.

“They’re sort of left alone in the household by themselves with the house with maybe 20 years to run.”

People who were widowed or separated would find their pension dropped from the married rate of $828 a fortnight each to the single rate of $1076.

“The amount of discount to NZ Super is not proportionate to your expenses,” he said.

Claire Matthews, a banking expert at Massey University agreed being widowed could be a catalyst for people to look at other options.

“It would make it more challenging to remain in the family home. But that should also affect widowed men, although the gender difference would reflect the higher rate of women being widowed. However, I wonder to what extent it also reflects the known gender gap in retirement savings – if women have lower levels of savings, they may have a greater need to access the equity in their home.”

Liz Kohm, founder of Enrich Retirement, said New Zealanders had a conservative approach to reverse mortgages.

“Perhaps too conservative. Current retirees are part of a generation who believe that it is not good to take on debt, especially in retirement.

“This is despite the fact that the debt does not have to be repaid during their lifetime. It would be interesting to know the reasons why the mortgages are voluntarily repaid before death. Possible reasons include selling the home to move into a retirement village – where reverse mortgages are not permitted or family members repaying the debt to avoid erosion of their inheritance. In my view there is scope for retirees in New Zealand to be more relaxed about reverse mortgages and to take better advantage of the opportunity to improve their standard of living. There is a balance to be struck between spending money/wealth on oneself versus leaving more money/wealth behind for family members to spend.

“My observation is it is mostly people who have separated or divorced. Women usually end up worse off than men after a relationship breakdown – probably due to lower earning power and also psychological issues.”

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