Open banking for business accounts in NZ: what connects now, what waits for June 2027

You start an online loan application. It asks you to connect your bank. You tap your bank’s logo, approve in the app, and… only your personal everyday account shows up. The business trading account, the one the lender actually needs, is nowhere on the consent screen.

Nothing is broken. You have hit the gap in New Zealand’s open banking rules, and it closes on 1 June 2027. Here is what is happening, stage by stage, and how to get your application through without waiting.

Can a business bank account use open banking in NZ right now?

Sometimes. It comes down to which channel the account lives in, not whether it is a business account.

Under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025, ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac have been data holders since 1 December 2025. But during the transitional period, they only have to share data for accounts customers can reach through their main mobile or website channel. MBIE’s open banking page names those channels:

Bank	Channel covered until 1 June 2027
ANZ	ANZ goMoney
ASB	ASB Mobile
BNZ	BNZ Internet Banking – Personal
Westpac	Westpac One
Kiwibank	Account information from 1 December 2026

So a sole trader or small company whose business account sits alongside personal accounts in goMoney or ASB Mobile will often connect fine. A company that banks through a separate business platform, with its own login, users and approval rules, may find the account simply isn’t offered.

Why don’t business banking platforms connect yet?

Business platforms are built differently. They have multiple users, payment limits, and approval rules like “two of three directors must authorise”. Plugging all of that into a consent flow takes more build work than a personal app does, so the regulations gave banks more time.

That extra time was itself extended. MBIE’s April 2026 consultation proposed moving the end of the transitional channel rules from 1 June 2026 to 1 June 2027, and the government amended the regulations in May 2026. Cabinet’s direction is that from 1 June 2027, banks must provide open banking for the relevant accounts of all customers, whatever channel they use, with two exceptions:

• Large entities. The definition broadly follows the Financial Reporting Act 2013 test, with tweaks for new entities and for businesses whose size moves around. Under that test, an entity is “large” if it had more than $66 million in total assets or more than $33 million in revenue in each of the two previous accounting periods (XRB A2 explains the thresholds). That excludes almost no small or medium business.
• Channels being shut down by 1 June 2028. A bank doesn’t have to wire open banking into a platform it is about to retire.

What does the June 2027 change fix, and what will still be awkward?

Think of it as a progress bar with three segments.

Done (since December 2025): personal and simple business accounts in the main channel. Password-free consent inside your bank’s app.

Coming 1 June 2027:

1. Accounts on business banking platforms come into scope (unless you are a large entity).
2. Banks must let customers authorise another person to approve data sharing on their behalf. That means a director could, for example, let the finance manager or bookkeeper approve a connection.

Still being worked out: the technical detail of those delegation systems. MBIE says it is still considering it, and submissions on delegation and professional trust accounts closed in June 2026. In its June 2026 submission, Payments NZ named multi-authorisation for payments as the highest-impact next step for business open banking. In plain terms: accounts that need two people to approve anything are the hardest case, and the industry knows it.

Banks may move faster than the deadline. Some business platforms may already appear on consent screens before 1 June 2027. The point is that until then, it isn’t guaranteed.

What about accounts that need two signatories?

This is where most business applications stall, so here is what tends to happen on screen.

• The account appears and you can approve. Your bank lets a single authorised user consent to data sharing (sharing data is not the same as moving money). Done.
• The account appears but your login can’t approve. You are a user, but not one with the authority the bank needs for consent. The fix: have the director or administrator with full access approve the request instead. Forward them the lender’s link. Never share your login with them, or theirs with you.
• The account doesn’t appear at all. It lives on a channel not yet covered, or your user setup excludes it. Switch to uploading statements for that account.

One more detail from the payments side: the regulated payment function only covers payments that a single customer can authorise. A two-to-sign account will not have a lender’s repayment set up through open banking payments any time soon. Repayments on business loans usually run by direct debit anyway, so this rarely matters for borrowing.

If you’re weighing up finance now and your accounts are a mix of connectable and not, start the 60-second enquiry and tell us which bank and platform you use. We’ll tell you which route fits each account.

What happened to Westpac Business Online?

Westpac retired it. According to Westpac’s help page, Business Online closed on 24 September 2026, replaced by Westpac One Business. Users who had logged in during the previous 12 months were moved across with the same authorisations they already had.

This is the decommissioning exception in action. If you migrated recently, check two things before applying:

1. You can log into Westpac One Business and see every business account, including ones a former bookkeeper may have looked after.
2. You can export PDF statements for the full period a lender asks for, including months before the migration.

Then try the open banking connection and see what the consent screen offers. If an account is missing, upload its statements.

How do I apply for a business loan before June 2027?

Use both routes. It’s normal, and the lender’s assessment doesn’t care which route each account took.

Step 1. List every account the business uses. Trading, GST or tax savings, credit cards, overdrafts, plus any personal account that takes business money. Our guide on applying when you bank with more than one bank has the full list.

Step 2. Try the connection first. Approve inside your own bank’s app. Read the consent screen: which accounts, what data, how long. Our page on what you are agreeing to when you share data covers what to check before you tap approve.

Step 3. Note what didn’t appear. Any account missing from the consent screen goes on your upload list.

Step 4. Export official PDF e-statements from internet banking for those accounts, covering the same months as the connected ones. Every page, including the page that shows the account name and number. No screenshots, no photos, no edited files.

Step 5. Upload through the lender’s secure portal, not email. Our document upload checklist lists the files for each loan type, and the page on linking versus uploading compares the two routes side by side.

Step 6. Add a one-line note. “Business account on ASB FastNet Business, not available via open banking, statements uploaded.” That saves an email from the assessor.

A worked example (illustrative)

A Christchurch joinery company runs its trading account and a GST account on its bank’s business platform. Both directors must approve payments. The managing director also has a personal account in the bank’s main app.

In October 2026 the company applies online for a $120,000 unsecured loan to fund a CNC machine deposit and a slow-paying commercial job.

• The open banking request opens in the bank’s main app. Only the director’s personal account appears. She declines to share it, because it’s not part of the application.
• She exports six months of PDF e-statements for both business accounts from the business platform. Ten minutes.
• She uploads them through the secure portal and adds a note explaining the two-to-sign setup and the monthly GST sweep.

The assessor has everything on day one. No missing pages, no chasing. By the time the 1 June 2027 change lands, the same company may be able to connect both accounts in a single consent flow.

Should I change anything now to be ready for 2027?

A few small moves pay off whichever way the rules settle.

• Review your business platform’s user list. Remove former staff and old bookkeepers. Check who holds administrator or full authority. Our guide to the 30-minute access audit walks through it.
• Know where third-party access is managed in each app, so you can review or withdraw consent later.
• Don’t move accounts just to make open banking work. Shifting the trading account into a personal-style channel can mess up authorities, bank feeds and payment approvals. Statements work fine in the meantime.
• Watch for scams using the timing. Expect fake “your business account must be re-verified for open banking” messages. A genuine request always sends you into your own bank’s app or website and never asks for your password anywhere else.

For the bigger picture, our open banking timeline covers every milestone from 2025 to 2027, and the open banking page shows how a connection works inside a loan application.

Half connected, half uploaded, fully assessed

Business banking is mid-upgrade in New Zealand, and your application shouldn’t have to wait for it. A connected personal account and a stack of business statements can be assessed just as properly as one neat consent flow, as long as someone reads the whole picture.

That is how our enquiry works. It takes about 60 seconds, and sending it won’t leave a mark on your credit file. There is no credit check just for asking. It goes to one team. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders, so no flood of calls from strangers. A real lending specialist reads it, works out which of your accounts can connect and which need uploading, and calls you. Unsecured options typically run from $5,000 to $500,000, and property-secured lending from $20,000 to $5,000,000.

Please answer the form accurately, including your bank, whether you use a business platform and how many people sign on the account. It lets us line up the right option the first time.

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