Payments NZ launches interbank payments switching website

Payments NZ has launched a website showing how consumers can move some payment instructions between banks.

The website advertises a facility in development between banks since last year using APIs (application programming interfaces) to allow customers to switch payment instructions on their main transactional account from one Payments NZ member banks to another.

These include automatic payments and direct debits.

The move addresses research showing concern over moving such payments has been an impediment to consumers changing banks.

The website was developed in response to an August 2024 market study by the Commerce Commission, which directed the industry to make switching easier for customers.

However, other payments - for example, recurring card payments, direct credits and incoming payments such as wages and salaries - are not included.

Consumers moving their account to a new bank will need to instruct payors to send payments to the new account. They Those who wish to use a credit card for recurring bill payments will also need to request a credit card from the new bank on which to load bill payments.

Loans, such as mortgages, and overdrafts are also excluded, and will have to be paid off at the old bank before the account can be closed.

Customers wanting records of their account transaction and history will need to ask their old bank for them before closing the account. 

The participating banks are ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac, SBS, TSB, Kiwibank, Heartland, The Cooperative Bank, ICBC, and Bank of China.

[An earlier version of this article incorrectly linked Payments NZ's switching facility to the imminent introduction of open banking. The two are unrelated].