- BNZ has acquired open banking payments company BlinkPay to enhance its focus on real-time, bank-to-bank payment solutions across New Zealand.
- Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
- BlinkPay will maintain its original leadership and culture, with company Co-founder Adrian Smith appointed as CEO.
BNZ announced today it has acquired fellow New Zealander BlinkPay, an open banking focused payments company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, BlinkPay Co-founder Adrian Smith will become the fintech’s CEO. BlinkPay will retain its original leadership and culture.
“As a Māori-led business, we bring a unique perspective to financial innovation. BNZ understands and values this – and they’re backing our vision while enabling us to retain our startup DNA,” said Smith. “Our kaupapa [strategy] has always been about making financial services work better for all New Zealanders. BNZ’s support gives us the resources to accelerate our mission and help grow the open banking ecosystem across Aotearoa [New Zealand].”
BlinkPay was founded in 2016 to offer seamless, secure, and instant bank-to-bank transfers by leveraging open banking. The company helps businesses provide their own customers with a more efficient way to make payments directly from their bank accounts. BlinkPay’s platform connects with major New Zealand banks via APIs that support real-time payments without the need for credit cards or other intermediaries.
With 250,000 customers, BNZ was an early leader in open banking. The bank first implemented open banking principles in 2018. Bank CEO Dan Huggins anticipates today’s investment will further BNZ’s open banking reputation and expertise.
“This represents the next phase in our journey,” said Huggins. “With BNZ supporting BlinkPay’s innovation and agility, we can accelerate the development of new products and services that will benefit all New Zealanders. We’re proud to be investing in a team that has proven their ability to innovate and deliver.”
Working together, BNZ and BlinkPay will create new open banking capabilities to improve the customer experience for both retail and commercial banks across New Zealand.