Innovation Awards Celebrate Wins For Kiwis’ Financial Lives

This year’s winners of Canstar’s Innovation Excellence Awards have a common thread: An intense focus on improving New Zealanders’ financial lives.

Canstar’s annual awards celebrate the very best in innovation across financial and household utility products, and are designed to help consumers and businesses select the ideal providers for their needs.

Today, we’re proud to announce the winners of our 2023 Innovation Excellence Awards: BNZ, Tower, Tella, Latitude, Flick Electric and Dosh. The winning products range from a market-first payments app, to flood risk ratings and support to find the best electricity plan.

Jose George, Canstar New Zealand General Manager, said: “The award winners all showed a razor-sharp focus on improving the lives of their customers through innovative ideas and advanced technology.

“The winners support both small businesses, and Kiwi households. The products are market leading, and the providers show a real commitment to making their customers’ financial decisions easier, faster and better. In an environment where budget pressure is coming from all sides, this is to be commended. We’re thrilled to announce these winners today.”

The 2023 Innovation Excellence Award winners are:

BNZ Pay, a payment app that allows the user to take contactless payments on a phone or tablet - removing the need for a traditional terminal. Merchants only pay when they use it, making it ideal for seasonal or retail businesses that take payments on the go. The judges recognised this innovation for its uniqueness, cost effectiveness, and broad utility. It is the first Soft-POS technology introduced by a bank in Australasia.

BNZ’s MyProperty, a digital tool for BNZ home loan customers to visualise and simulate different repayment options online, including an estimate of their mortgage-free date, and the impact of interest rates on their mortgage repayments. The judges were impressed by the integration with the users’ internet banking and recognised this tool as being far more comprehensive than other repayment calculators available.

Latitude’s Gem Visa Offers eXchange Program, a digital loyalty program offering cashback rewards to cardholders, and benefits for merchants. The program provides Latitude Gem Visa cardholders the most relevant, personalised merchant-funded offers. The judges found this program to be highly innovative for the New Zealand market, where no similar offers currently exist.

Tella, whose fully digital home loan application recommends the best home loan strategy for the user, then finds the most suitable home loan for the applicant. The fast turnaround time and the streamlined process was deemed to have a tangible impact on consumers and ‘wowed’ the judges.

Tower, which offers a flood risk rating tool giving the most comprehensive flood risk analysis in New Zealand. The tool’s consideration of specific property details, such as build materials and land gradient, makes it far more accurate than existing models, which still generalise flood risk to broader areas. Given the recent flooding devastation in New Zealand, the judges acknowledged the tool’s widespread utility.

Flick Electric, whose Flickin’ Best Plan Promise reviews your power usage every 90 days. Flick calculates its customers’ variable kWh and fixed daily charges, and compares them against the rates of its Flat and Off Peak pricing plans. Flick then works out if the customer is on the best plan for their household, or if there are savings to be made by changing to a different Flick plan. The judges recognised the uniqueness of this service and acknowledged Flick Electric’s commitment to value and transparency.

Dosh, with its Doshback product. The Doshback Rewards offer is the first debit card cashback offering in New Zealand. It differs from other rewards programs by offering cash rather than points, no annual fees, and timely rewards paid out on Dosh Day, the 3rd business day of each month.

For more details please visit the

Canstar site here

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