By 1news.co.nz
New Zealand banks are making major changes to online banking this week.
From Friday, Kiwis will be able to transfer money between different banks without a delay, seven days a week – including public holidays.
Payments NZ confirmed ASB, Bank of China, BNZ, ANZ, Citi, HSBC, ICBC, Kiwibank, Westpac and TSB will all be making the switch to allow instant bank transfers.
The move to 365-day payments will impact direct credit transactions, direct debits, automatic payments, and bill payments.
Kiwbank said their payment processing times will remain the same after Friday. Currently, payments are processed from 9am to 12am.
Same-day cleared payments (urgent, high-value payments) also won’t change, remaining available on business days only.
Payments NZ chief executive Steve Wiggins said it will be a “significant” change for the industry.
He says it’s “the next step in modernising the country’s payments system, allowing for both consumers and businesses to pay and be paid any day of the year, including weekends and public holidays”.
“We’re excited to see the next evolution of payments in Aotearoa, which is the end of the traditional ‘five business days’ model for electronic bank payments.”
Wiggins said the payments system that supports this change transacts over $1.5 trillion of payments each year.
