Open banking standards to be managed by MBIE

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has recently confirmed that it will assume responsibility for the ongoing governance and delivery of standards for New Zealand’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) – the legislative framework under which regulated open banking has been implemented. This is expected to take effect at the end of September 2026, when Payments NZ’s API Centre will close.

Open banking standards

Standards are central to the practical operation of the CDR as they establish the technical and operational requirements for secure, reliable and interoperable data sharing between participants. In delivering regulated open banking under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025, MBIE entered into a licensing agreement with Payments NZ. That agreement enabled the Banking and Other Deposit Taking Standards 2025 to incorporate relevant Payments NZ API Centre specifications by reference. This essentially lifted and shifted the standards that industry was already working with under the API Centre programme, which was good news for existing API Centre participants who didn’t need to make substantial technical changes to their existing systems. Reliance on these existing standards was also a crucial element in MBIE meeting the ambitious deadlines set for rolling out regulated open banking.

This left some ambiguity about the continuing role of Payments NZ’s API Centre and whether it would be designated as an approved third party standards body to manage and support the technical standards for regulated open banking going forward.

MBIE has now resolved that uncertainty, announcing that it has agreed commercial terms with Payments NZ to purchase the rights to Payments NZ’s Version 3.0 open banking specifications and is working on “further transitionary arrangements” with Payments NZ in respect of standards hosting, public key infrastructure certificate services, and providing developer sandbox environments. MBIE says that this “independent stewardship” of standards governance aligns with its broader responsibilities under the Customer and Product Data Act and provides a foundation for consistency across multiple sectors – the CDR will be expanded into other sectors, and MBIE says that it has already commenced drafting standards for regulated open electricity.

Closure of API Centre

Payments NZ has itself announced the closure of the API Centre at the end of September 2026, when responsibility for open banking standards management is planned to transfer fully to MBIE, acknowledging the “change in policy direction towards [a] centralised standards management model covering multiple sectors under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025”. Payments NZ says that this new regulatory approach means the API Centre’s “Approved Person” function is no longer required.

Payments NZ notes that regulated open banking is now established and delivering value at scale in New Zealand – in July 2026, more than 400,000 open banking payments were completed (with transaction values exceeding $130 million) and more than 19 million data requests were made. Payments NZ says that it has made its operating model, services, tools and expertise available to MBIE to support a careful transition in standards management.

Next steps

MBIE says that over the coming weeks it will engage with participants and stakeholders on how standards should be developed, maintained and updated into the future.

In this role, MBIE will need to draw on technical and operational expertise from across the ecosystem. Centralised stewardship presents an opportunity to promote consistency and interoperability as the CDR expands beyond banking, while the API Centre’s experience demonstrates the practical value of sustained technical and industry collaboration. The immediate focus should be on continuity for participants, transparent and responsive processes for standards maintenance, and standards that continue to promote secure innovation and competition.

The work of the API Centre in creating the standards framework for open banking in New Zealand should be acknowledged. Although the industry-led project had its challenges, it laid a strong foundation for the regulated CDR (whose implementation was relatively streamlined compared to other jurisdictions). We hope the expertise built up over many years in the API Centre will continue to be put to good use in New Zealand’s burgeoning open data economy.

If your business needs advice on the CDR regime, feel free to reach out to our team.

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