Kia ora,
It’s been an exciting start to the year! Thanks to everyone who joined us at last month’s FinTechNZ Hui Taumata – thriving together. Our 2024 event was another successful and strategically important event. Here’s a few fun statistics: 365 delegates, 61 speakers, 27 sponsors, 628 coffees and many thousands of conversations!
It was once again a pleasure to witness our community connecting, collaborating and learning. I would like to extend a special thanks to all of our incredible partners who made this Hui possible, particularly our returning Diamond sponsor, Visa. I’ve been reflecting with the team and we can’t wait to bring you an even better Hui format next year. Stay tuned for our save the date announcement. Until then, check out the day’s photos here. Also, if you attended, remember to sign-in to the event website and access the PDF presentations too. Plus, watch our exclusive FinTechNZ Hui Taumata interview with Sam Everington on open banking here.
In the coming months, once again we’ll be hosting a mini hui for early-stage fintechs, plus we’re discussing a venture capital (VC) summit, with a view to enhancing the VC and incubation ecosystem for fintechs. We’re also looking for further developments from the Government on open banking, including ongoing interest in the Payments NZ application to develop a partnering framework and an accreditation scheme for API framework. This will help organisations access bank account data and/or initiation services. The Commerce Commission is still in the process of examining the public benefits and our community has now been involved in three feedback sessions. Separately there is the consideration of determining whether to recommend to the Minister the designation of the interbank payments network. This follows last year’s announcement that the Commission is considering ways to remove barriers to more innovative payment options using API-enabled payments that would allow Kiwis to make payments securely and rapidly between bank accounts. This provides a lower-cost alternative to current card payment options. The Commission believes this approach is complementary to the Government’s development of a Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime.
Meanwhile, our membership continues to grow, now at 200! Welcome to our new members: A24 Limited, Autonomous Flight NZ, Dime, Fiskil, GoTo Car Share, IndigiShare, Invoice Hub, Lextech, Lotus Foreign Exchange, POLipay, Scores4All, The Co-operative Bank, Trusted AML and Weel.
This month, we also extend a warm welcome to Simfuni who joined our Hui’s Innovation Zone, were selected for our Hudson Gavin Martin Fast Pitch Breakfast and won!
We’re also excited to share an exclusive opportunity for our members to win one of 10 spots in the BNZ Growth Academy, worth $10,000 each. If you’re a fintech start-up or looking for the next phase of growth, this opportunity is for you! Find out more here.
In other news, FinTechNZ along with the AI Forum and NZ Game Developers Association have joined the Tech Council to help advance tech innovation in Auckland. Read more.
Next month, in a showcase of innovation and ambition, 10 world-leading startups, nurtured by the Startupbootcamp startup accelerator, will take the stage at Money20/20 Asia, 23-25 April in Bangkok. Read more.
Don’t forget to register and join us next week for the launch of the New Zealand Fintech Pulsecheck 2024 report at Deloitte’s new offices. Come and join us for breakfast.
Ngā mihi
Jason Roberts
Executive Director, FinTechNZ
Read the full news here: Reflections – Thriving together
