As I write this newsletter, our Hui Taumata 2026 is now behind us, and I want to start with a genuine thank you. Bringing the ecosystem together in Wellington for 1.5 days was a real highlight, and I’m proud of what the community delivered. We took a few big punts this year, from the move to Wellington to the new format, and on balance, it felt like the right call. The vibe was strong, the conversations were practical, and the common thread I kept hearing was trust, infrastructure, and delivery. With a 400+ strong attendance across the entire event, this was our most successful Hui to date!
Day One gave us space to slow things down and go deeper, and included the new Insights Forum, the follow-on strategy roundtable and at the same time, tours of three great Wellington fintechs, Booster, Sharesies and Xero. We’re now working through the detailed feedback from the roundtable discussions. But it is clear there is an expressed urgency to get cracking and for a follow-on from the Open Banking/Open Finance/Open Data journey as a trisector engagement across government, industry and community. Across all discussions throughout the day, there was a strong and consistent message: New Zealand has the ingredients to build a globally competitive, inclusive fintech ecosystem—but it is being held back by fragmentation, unclear ownership, and underpowered execution. Participants repeatedly emphasised that fintech is no longer a niche sector. It is core economic infrastructure shaping productivity, inclusion, exports, and trust in the digital economy.
Our challenge now is to keep the foot on the accelerator, which is something we will revisit across 2026.
Day Two brought the pace and breadth, with the five members of Creative HQ’s FinTech Lab 2026 cohort on stage for the Kiwibank Start Up Pitch Breakfast (congratulations to our winners, Judges Choice Hello Cashflow and People’s Choice Feijoa), a strong masterclass line-up, important signals from the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), and global perspectives from Revolut and TNE.ai. You can check out some photos from the day here, and if you attended, keep an eye on your inbox for more post-event content. We’ll also be continuing the conversations at events throughout the year. You’ll find a fuller Hui wrap and highlights further on in this newsletter.
You may also have noticed our fresh new look. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m genuinely excited to see this finally come to life! This isn’t a change to who we are or what we stand for. Our purpose remains the same: to actively contribute to the prosperity of New Zealand through financial technology innovation. Read on to find out more about the refresh.
Also in this issue:
Regulatory updates, community notices, and what’s next across the ecosystem.
That’s a wrap on Hui Taumata 2026
Our Hui Taumata 2026 brought Aotearoa New Zealand’s fintech ecosystem together in Wellington for 1.5 days of thoughtful discussion, shared insight, and collective momentum.
With leaders from government, regulators, banks, startups, scale‑ups, global fintechs, and investors in the room, conversations focused on moving from strong foundations to real‑world delivery — across open banking and Consumer Data Right, payments, digital identity, AI, and trust.
We extend a sincere thank you to our sponsors for their support in making the Hui Taumata 2026 possible: WellingtonNZ, Creative HQ, Visa, Swyftx New Zealand, Kiwibank, Chapman Tripp, Hudson Gavin Martin, NEC New Zealand, Payments NZ, KPMG New Zealand, Minstry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE), Banzpay, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, ANZ, Revolut, British High Commission, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Worldline, Banzpay, InvestHK, Middleware, Easycoder, Feijoa, GBG, Homely, MyRepsoft, Pay It Now and Wismopay.
Thank you to our speakers, moderators, and panellists. In particular, I’d like to acknowledge Janine Grainger, who did a stellar job moderating our nine-strong Insights Forum panel — aptly referred to as simply “The Panel” by those in attendance to all the members of “The Panel” and the panellists themselves:
Graeme Muller, Nicole Sandler, Dr Scott Farrell, Jamie Leach, Anton Ruddenklau, Rich Tong, Jerome Faury and Steve Wiggins (see here for a wrap-up of The Panel from panellist Jamie Leach). Thank you also to our MC Vanessa Ronan-Pearce for bringing such energy to the room (can we entice you back for round three?), our international speakers who came from far and wide (Rich Tong, Jason Titman, Nicole Sandler, Dr Scott Farrell, Jamie Leach, Anton Ruddenklau, Adam Gagen and Konstantin Poptodorov) and the Deloitte strategy team for their guidance in shaping and facilitating the roundtable discussions. Your insight and engagement helped make this such a constructive, forward-looking Hui.
There is much more to come as a follow-up, and expect to see more news, and potentially follow-up events off the back of the Hui.
Read the full event wrap on our website →.
A fresh new look for FinTech New Zealand
In case you missed it, ahead of last week’s Hui Taumata, we unveiled a refreshed identity for FinTech New Zealand. Our new brand brings us into closer alignment with our Tech New Zealand | Hangarau Aotearoa whānau and better reflects the connected, unified ecosystem we’re proud to be part of.
As mentioned earlier, this isn’t a change to who we are or what we stand for. Our purpose remains the same: to actively contribute to the prosperity of New Zealand through financial technology innovation. What you’ll see is a sharper look across our website, communications, and social channels, because we’re stronger when we move together.
Read our full announcement here →.
Regulatory Updates
The FMA has signalled continued momentum on enabling responsible fintech innovation, announcing it will use the FinTech Hui in Wellington to engage on next steps for its FinTech sandbox pilot, including exploring an “on-ramp” or restricted licence for innovative firms. The update follows a pilot involving six firms, with four identifying pathways to market. Swyftx Country Manager (NZ) Paul Quickenden said they and the wider blockchain ecosystem “welcomes the certainty that the FMA ruling brings to stablecoins,” noting that regulatory certainty helps businesses start up with confidence, supports investment, and positions New Zealand well as tokenisation and digital assets mature. Read more →.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has announced it is working with industry and public sector agencies to improve access to basic transaction services. Following strong feedback from consultation, the RBNZ is developing a Memorandum of Understanding to support greater financial inclusion by ensuring access to basic accounts unless there is a compelling reason not to, aligning New Zealand with international best practice. Read more →.
The Commerce Commission has released its annual stakeholder perceptions research (367 responses), showing improved perceptions of communication and engagement, alongside gains in decision‑making and overall performance. A new visibility measure highlights progress and areas for further focus, with the Commission reaffirming its commitment to listening, transparency, and strengthening engagement to support competition and better outcomes for New Zealanders. Read more →.
Upcoming Events
Following Hui Taumata, many of the conversations we heard came back to trust, infrastructure, and delivery. Two upcoming events from our Tech New Zealand whānau at Blockchain Forum New Zealand continue that discussion with a practical digital assets lens.
CryptoWinter26 looks at how blockchain and digital assets are being implemented in the real world across payments, compliance, custody, and tokenised markets — with an emphasis on what works and what’s next for Aotearoa. Early Bird tickets are on sale now.
For advisers, Digital Assets are going Mainstream builds on Blockchain Forum’s tokenised real estate work and broadens the conversation across Bitcoin, tokenised real estate, and tokenised private markets. Register your interest here →.
Back in Wellington, Creative HQ’s Fintech Festival 2026 will celebrate the founders graduating from Fintech Lab ’26, with a startup showcase, industry highlights, and networking at Shed 6 (Queens Wharf), 2–7pm. Spaces are limited—register early →
Community Noticeboard
Payments NZ API Centre has published the roadmap, outlining upcoming work and key milestones supporting open banking and the Customer and Product Data Act. The roadmap provides visibility of near‑term priorities and reflects the collective mahi of ecosystem participants contributing to open banking outcomes. It will be updated regularly by the API Centre to support transparency, coordination, and continued progress across Aotearoa New Zealand’s payments and data‑sharing ecosystem.
Thank you for being part of the FinTech New Zealand community as we keep pushing forward together.
Ngā mihi nui,
Jason Roberts
Executive Director, FinTech New Zealand
Read full news here: Hui Taumata 2026: trust, infrastructure, delivery (and what’s next)