BNZ And Volley Announce Agreement To Bring “request To Pay” App To New Zealand

Imagine you've just enjoyed a dinner out with friends. Instead of splitting the bill with multiple cash or card transactions at the restaurant, you simply create a payment request on your phone and share it with your friends. They then approve the payment with a single tap in their banking app, without the hassle of entering all the payment details from scratch themselves.

This is the innovative solution set to launch soon in Aotearoa, thanks to Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) and homegrown fintech startup Volley, who today announced a new API agreement to bring this unique "request to pay" service to the country.

Karna Luke, BNZ’s Executive of Customer Products & Services, says, "At BNZ, we're committed to delivering market leading products and services. Our agreement with Volley, using the power of our APIs, reflects that commitment.”

“This collaboration will bring a new ease and simplicity to our customers’ financial lives. Whether it’s splitting bills in a flat, at a restaurant, or on a night out with friends, this will help take the hassle out of sharing payments, while ensuring our customers’ money is safe through our secure API,” he says.

James McCann, co-founder of Volley, says this is different to how some apps operate overseas, which rely on "screen scraping" and uncontracted APIs, or which ask users to deposit money into a digital wallet before they can make payments.

"We’re incredibly proud to be working with BNZ, and this agreement allows us to bring the power of open banking to individuals to make peer-to-peer payments for the first time in New Zealand. We’re grateful for the support from the BNZ team and look forward to launching Volley soon.

“We’ll be rolling out our service with more banks over the coming months as more open banking APIs come to market,” he says.

BNZ has been providing open banking services since 2018 and has consistently led the market in New Zealand in releasing APIs. It is a strong supporter of industry moves to secure standards for open banking, and its APIs are already being used by a range of different organisations and companies, from local councils to financial service providers, fintechs and many more.

Volley is currently in beta testing and will launch soon. To learn more about Volley and join the waitlist, visit https://volley.nz.

Key Facts:

• Volley is a 'request to pay' app that allows individuals to easily create and share payment requests, making it easy to split bills like dinners out with friends or the Netflix subscription with flatmates.
• Volley connects with BNZ through secure APIs, ensuring safe and secure access to initiate payments from a customer's bank account, after consent.
• Customers are able to authorise payments in their banking app, keeping their money safe and secure in their bank - where it belongs (images attached)
• This agreement marks another step forward in open banking in New Zealand.
• Volley's service is currently in beta testing, with a full launch expected soon.

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