FINTECHNZ HUI TAUMATA
Programme
Explore our 1.5 day conference programme filled with inspiring keynote presentations, engaging panel discussions, and plenty of networking opportunities in the company of digital identity leaders from Aotearoa and around the world.
Touchdown & Tour Day | Wednesday 11 March
The Hui begins with a half day of experiences designed to immerse delegates in the energy of Wellington, Aotearoa’s capital of decision-making and innovation.
Presenting two streams, choose which is best for you — or divide and conquer if you are coming with colleagues.
Stream One | Ecosystem Tours
Guided visits hosted by CreativeHQ, concluding with joint networking with Stream 2 attendees at the Tākina Centre.
2.00pm – Registration and Welcome
Hosted by CreativeHQ
2.30pm – Site Visit One
Join Bridget Snelling, Xero New Zealand Country Manager, for an inside look at one of Aotearoa’s most iconic global tech success stories. This session will open with a welcome and introduction to Xero—exploring how the platform has revolutionised the way small businesses operate by making beautiful, cloud-based accounting accessible and empowering for entrepreneurs worldwide. Central to this mission is Xero’s open developer platform, which has acted as a catalyst for the local tech sector, supporting the growth of many New Zealand fintech and SaaS businesses. Bridget and other senior leaders will share insights into Xero’s journey from a Wellington startup to a global leader, and their commitment to driving economic growth through digital transformation, followed by an interactive Q&A session.
Hosted by:
3.30pm – Site Visit Two
Step inside Booster NZ and discover how a homegrown financial services firm evolved into one of New Zealand’s most dynamic financial institutions with over $7 billion in funds under management. From our roots as a boutique advisory firm to becoming a major KiwiSaver provider, our journey is defined by challenging the status quo. Join us to learn how we’re rewriting the rules of wealth management with innovations like Savvy—the debit card that turns spending into an investment strategy—and our unique direct investment funds, including the Booster Innovation Fund, which fuels the next generation of Kiwi startups. Come see how we are backing New Zealand’s future, one smart investment at a time.
Hosted by:
4.30pm – Site Visit Three
Join Leighton Roberts, Co‑founder and Co-CEO of Sharesies, for an inside look at one of Aotearoa’s most recognised fintech success stories.
This exclusive session will open with a welcome and introduction to Sharesies — exploring how the platform has reshaped investing in New Zealand by making financial markets more accessible, inclusive, and empowering for everyday people.
Leighton and other senior leaders will share insights into Sharesies’ growth journey, culture, and commitment to financial literacy, followed by an interactive Q&A session.
This visit offers delegates a unique opportunity to engage directly with the team driving one of New Zealand’s most inspiring examples of fintech innovation and purpose‑led leadership.
Hosted by:
5.30pm – Touchdown Networking Event
Welcome from Joanna Greaves | GM Business Product & Performance, Kiwibank
Stream Two | Insights Forum at Tākina Convention & Exhibition Centre, Wellington
Join the new-format Insights Forum and follow through strategy roundtables, concluding with the combined networking session at the Tākina Centre.
2.00pm – Registration opens
2.25pm- Welcome from FinTechNZ
Jason Roberts, Executive Director of FinTechNZ sets the scene for the afternoon
2.30pm – Welcome from Chris Hipkins
2.35pm- Introduction of the Panel
Jason expands on the purpose and what guests can expect, introducing our moderator for the afternoon, Janine Grainger and the panel members.
2.40pm – Shaping the Future of Finance panel discussion
As Aotearoa advances on its journey toward Open Finance and a broader Open Data economy, collaboration between government, regulators, and industry has never been more critical. The Insights Forum brings together senior national and international leaders to explore how New Zealand can accelerate this transformation and define a shared vision for its digital financial future.
Through high‑impact discussion and facilitated breakout sessions, participants will examine global developments, identify opportunities within New Zealand’s evolving framework, and shape practical pathways to innovation.
This session will surface the ideas, priorities, and partnerships needed to position Aotearoa as a globally recognised fintech nation — one that balances innovation, inclusion, and trust at the heart of financial progress.
Panellists include:
Janine Grainger | ex CEO, Easy Crypto / FinTechNZ Board (Session Facilitator)
Nicole Sandler | Chief Ecosystem Officer, Ubyx | Director of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, CFIT (UK)
Dr Scott Farrell | Strategic Counsel, King & Wood Mallesons
Jamie Leach | Open Data Strategist/ Head of Growth APAC, Raidiam
Anton Ruddenklau | Global Head of FinTech & Innovation, KPMG International
Jerome Faury | CEO, Immersve
Richard Tong | Founder, TNE.ai
Steve Wiggins | Chief Executive, Payments NZ
Graeme Muller | CEO, Tech New Zealand
3.55pm – Panel Closing
Jason will provide a summary and thank our panel contributors
4.00pm – Breakout Sessions Introduction
Address from Deloitte
4.05pm – Breakout Sessions Commence
This session builds on the discussions in the Insights Forum. Attendees will move into facilitated roundtables of 10.
Roundtable 1: Role of Govt and regulatory
“How do we incentivise the digital transformation of New Zealand’s financial system
through regulatory and policy approaches, including the roles of government, industry,
and users? Discussion may focus on regulatory coordination, international developments,
and how to balance innovation and oversight across emerging technologies”
Facilitators:
Charlotte Montgomerie, Chapman Tripp
Charlotte Montgomerie, Chapman Tripp
Peter Dingle, PMD Limited
Simon Papa, Cygnus Law
Vincent McCartney, vjmconsulting
Roundtable 2: Payments/ Identity
A Three Body Opportunity’ – ‘How do we best coalesce these three initiatives to ensure we deliver value rich, elegant, cost effective and safe customer experiences?
Facilitators:
Dan Symons, Westpac
Steve Graham, NEC
Emily McCallum, McCallum and Co
Duncan Robertson, Get Verified
Roundtable 3: Sector Investment
Optimising Investment in (fin) Tech: National, regional Initiatives and Growth Capital. Setting
direction
Facilitators:
Mike Burke, NZFF
Colm Kearney, CHQ
Ashley Lake-Johns, Qippay
Richard Galvin, Bolt Group
Roundtable 4: Innovation in financial services
A discussion of enablers that will help to drive competition and innovation in financial services in New
Zealand. Exploring: Open banking, ESAS access, deposit insurance, payments modernisation,
stablecoins, and AI.
Facilitators:
Josh Daniell, Akahu
Mark Banicevich, Partners Life
Andrew Dentice, HGM
Angela Batistich, ANZ
Roundtable 5: Generating Impact
The role of tech, business and govt to advance positive customer outcomes
Facilitators:
Tom Bayliss, RBNZ
Lance Webb, KPMG
Andy Higgs, Digital Identity
Janine Grainger
5.00pm – Share learnings, thank you and closing
Groups share learnings with wider group. Rep from each round table will come to the front of the room and present their discussions.
Thank you from both Deloitte and Chapman Tripp
5.30pm – Touchdown Networking Event
Welcome from Joanna Greaves | GM Business Product & Performance, Kiwibank
The Main Hui Taumata | Thursday 12 March
The full Hui day brings together the entire fintech ecosystem for an action‑oriented programme of keynotes, panels, masterclasses, and networking. From open finance and AI to regulation, inclusion, and scaling, this is where Aotearoa forges ahead in shaping the future of finance.
8:00am – Kiwibank Start Up Pitch Breakfast
Start Day Two with a front-row seat to what’s coming next in Aotearoa fintech. The Kiwibank Start Up Pitch Breakfast showcases pre‑revenue fintech startups pitching to an industry audience, with a Best Pitch selected by three judges including Campbell Machlaclan form last years winner Goldie . These pitches feature the 2026 Creative HQ Fintech Accelerator cohort, giving delegates a first look at the founders and ideas emerging from Aotearoa’s pipeline.
The cohort spans grants and community funding, KiwiSaver tools, lending and insurance workflow, compliant digital‑asset powered products, AI‑native accounting and workpapers automation, compliance for regulated firms, kaupapa Māori whānau asset management, property insights, Open Banking infrastructure, SME risk monitoring, halal fintech, cashflow visibility, and connecting Pacific innovation with global capital.
Opening:
Joanna Greaves | GM Business Product & Performance, Kiwibank
Judges:
Campbell Machlalan | Founder, Goldie
Kate Eaglen | Head of Investments – Risk and Compliance, NZ FinTech Fund
Pitch Companies:
Hello Cashflow
Hello Cashflow connects to your accounting software and brings your numbers to life – so you can stay in control, protect your business, and always know what to do next.
Nashrr
New Zealand’s first all-in-one halal fintech platform.
Tākoha
Tākoha provides kaupapa Māori whānau asset management support, including the use of digital financial tools, to enhance transparent governance and intergenerational stewardship of Māori land interests in a manner consistent with tikanga Māori and existing legal frameworks.
COUNT
COUNT is a new AI-native accounting platform built for NZ small to medium businesses that want simple, powerful financial clarity without the usual accounting drag.
Feijoa
Feijoa is the smart and simple app to help grow your KiwiSaver account with every purchase, every day.
8:00am – Registration and Morning Networking
9:35am – Payments are no longer just fast — they’re intelligent.
In this forward‑looking keynote, Visa explores the architecture of commerce in 2026: where AI agents negotiate and pay on our behalf, money carries logic, identity replaces friction, and borders disappear from payments. From agentic commerce and hyper‑personalisation to stablecoins, interoperability and the quantum challenge, this session cuts through hype to reveal the invisible layers reshaping how value moves — and what it means for banks, fintechs and merchants next.
Anthony Diack, Head of Business Growth and Partnerships, Visa
10:00am – Meet the Regulators: What are the next steps towards expanded Open Finance and Open Data ecosystem?
Facilitators and participants from the Pre-Hui Roundtable session will reflect on the conversations had, highlighting shared priorities, emerging themes, and the actions identified to accelerate Aotearoa’s progress toward an Open Finance and Open Data economy.
Hear how government, regulators, and industry leaders are aligning to build a trusted, digitally enabled financial system. This session sets the tone for the day ahead, connecting the strategic outcomes of the roundtable with the next phase of discussion and collaboration at the Hui.
Panellists:
Samantha Barrass | Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
Bryan Chapple | Commissioner, Commerce Commission
Tina Groark | Leadership Team, (Moderator)
10:30am – Morning Tea Break
11:30am – Masterclasses Round One
Delegates will choose ONE of the below masterclass sessions to attend
- Digital Assets and Tokenisation: Unlocking Cross-Border Payments for New Zealand | Chapman Tripp & KPMG
Hosted by Chapman Tripp and KPMG, this masterclass will explore how the global landscape is being reshaped by the rapid adoption and interconnectedness of digital assets (including stablecoins and tokenisation) including the latest investment trends in these assets.
We will examine what these digital assets encompass and lessons learnt from abroad (such as robust technology infrastructure to smart regulation) to ensure NZ can move forward successfully and remain relevant on the global stage. By looking to international developments and real-world use cases, the session will examine how these innovations are improving speed, transparency, and efficiency across financial networks.
Session Format: Moderated panel with Q&A
Target Audience: Regulators, Banks, Fintech founders and investors.Session Contributors
Nicola Raynes-Pene | National Industry Lead – Financial Services, KPMG
Anton Ruddenklau | Global Head of FinTech & Innovation, KPMG International
Luke Ford | Partner, Chapman Tripp
Nicole Sandler | Chief Ecosystem Officer, Ubyx Inc./ Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, CFIT (UK)
Stu Burns | CEO, Imperium - Modernising Payments: Connecting the Dots | Payments NZ
Connecting the Dots’ brings together the full breadth of Payments NZ’s work. The session will begin with a short scene setting presentation providing context on how safety, trust, and core payments infrastructure intersect across the entire payment’s ecosystem from account-to-account payments and fraud prevention, to standards, governance, and future innovation. This will be followed by a fireside discussion and dedicated time for audience Q&A, encouraging open dialog on how Payments NZ is connecting these elements in a coordinated, system wide approach to modernising payments and shaping what comes next for Aotearoa.
Session Format: Fireside chat + interactive Q&A
Target Audience: Payments and banking leaders, fintechs, risk/fraud and compliance teams, product and technology leaders, and policymakers.Session Contributors:
Nigel Somerfield | Lead Architect, Payments NZ
Andrew Weaver | Strategic Advisor, Payments NZTina Groark | Open Banking Specialist at Glueware, part of The Middleware Group
Phil Cass | API Centre Manager, Payments NZ - Creating Successful Fintech Partnerships | Hudson Gavin Martin
Drawing on our experience working with fintechs, banks, industry players and regulators on a range of fintech projects, we’ll explore how to get fintech deals across the line – and some of the curly legal, regulatory and commercial issues to spot and overcome.
Come away with practical tips to help drive win/win outcomes in your fintech partnerships, and get the chance to ask specific questions and direct the discussion.
Session Format: Presentation plus interactive Q&A
Target Audience: Fintech founders and commercial leads, bank innovators, other sectors partnering with fintechs, regulators, policy makers and lawyers. Essentially, anyone doing (or interested in) fintech deals!Session Host:
Andrew Dentice | Partner, Hudson Gavin Martin
12:15pm – Masterclasses Round Two
Delegates will choose ONE of the below masterclass sessions to attend
Scaling Up: Growth Strategies for Kiwi Fintechs | New Zealand Fintech Fund (NZFF)
Product market fit is just the beginning. Building a real company is the hard part.
As New Zealand’s fintech ecosystem matures, the questions are becoming more sophisticated: where is real activity happening, how are ventures seeded, and what models best support sustainable scale? This session brings together global institutional insight and local founder experience in two focused conversations.
Part One features a discussion between Marty Kerr, Co-founder and Partner of the New Zealand Fintech Fund and Clifford Barnes, Managing Director of Standard Chartered Ventures. They will explore where venture activity is accelerating in New Zealand and globally, compare founder led ventures with corporate incubation models, examine the capital, distribution, and regulatory trade-offs in each pathway, and discuss when institutional backing accelerates growth — and when independence creates leverage.
Part Two is a practical conversation between Kate Eaglen, Head of Investments at the New Zealand Fintech Fund, Georgina Thirkettle, CEO and Founder of Static Technologies and Chris Smith – Founder / CEO of Bloxx. The discussion will cover what investors actually look for; how to raise growth capital without distorting strategy; attracting and retaining senior talent in New Zealand, professionalising product, risk, compliance, and operations, and thinking about expansion — domestic or international — at the right time and pace.
This session is designed for founders, executives, investors, board members, banks, policymakers, and ecosystem partners involved in building, backing, or enabling fintech ventures in Aotearoa. It will be a practical, grounded discussion on how fintech ventures are formed — and how they scale sustainably from New Zealand.
Session Format: Two-part conversations
Target Audience: Ideal for startup and scale‑up leaders, investors, and ecosystem enablers focused on turning Kiwi fintech innovation into global success.Session Contributors:
Marty Kerr | Co-founder and Partner, New Zealand Fintech Fund
Clifford Barnes | Managing Director, Standard Chartered Ventures
Kate Eaglen | Head of Investments, New Zealand Fintech Fund
Georgina Thirkettle | CEO and Founder, Static Technologies
Chris Smith | Founder and CEO, BLOXX- Rebuilding Finance: Why TradFi needs Web3 and what happens when they finally converge | Swyftx New Zealand
Hosted by Paul Quickenden, Swyftx New Zealand Country Manager, this masterclass explores why traditional finance is fast reaching its limits and why Web3 is becoming essential infrastructure for the next era of money. As pressure mounts on legacy rails, blockchain-based systems offer faster settlement, programmable value, and entirely new models of economic activity.
The session examines what needs to change for this convergence to happen – including regulatory guardrails to the technical foundations – and why institutions are increasingly moving toward digital assets. Paul unpacks the ‘wicked problems’ only Web3 can solve, and what becomes possible for New Zealand if the future of finance is built on the right rails.Session Format: TBC
Target Audience: Founders, tech partners, developers, banks and regulatorsSession Host:
Paul Quickenden | Swyftx New Zealand Country Manager
- Trust by Design: Building Identity That Scales from Onboarding to Authorisation | NEC
As fintech innovation accelerates across payments, lending, data sharing, and platform services, trust has become a core design constraint rather than a compliance afterthought. This masterclass explores how identity underpins trust across onboarding, authentication, authorisation, and why weaknesses in identity design increasingly drive fraud, customer friction, and regulatory risk as organisations scale. Grounded in New Zealand’s evolving digital trust framework, the session reframes identity from a backend control to shared ecosystem infrastructure. Delegates will gain a simple, practical model for understanding where trust breaks and what “good” looks like when designing identity for reuse, interoperability, and growth. Participants will leave with a reusable artefact they can apply within their own organisation to assess trust and identity readiness.
What you’ll learn
– How trust works across onboarding, authentication, and authorisation (and where it commonly fails)
– Why trust frameworks matter for reuse, interoperability, and scale
– A simple way to assess your organisation’s trust and identity readinessSession Format: Presentation, followed by an interactive segment and short facilitated Q&A / discussion
Target Audience: This session is best suited to people building, governing, or scaling digital trust and identity capabilities across New Zealand’s fintech and financial services ecosystem.Session Host:
Steven Graham | General Manager – Digital Government & Trust, NEC New Zealand - Agentic Commerce – Ready or not: Here it comes
Session Host:
Anthony Diack, Head of Business Growth and Partnerships New Zealand, Visa
1:00pm – Lunch Break
2:00pm – Kiwibank Start Up Pitch Breakfast Winner Announcement
2:05pm – Ministerial Address 
Hon Nicola Willis | Minister of Finance, Minister for Economic Growth and Minister for Social Investment
2:15pm – Consumer Data Right in Aotearoa: The Road Ahead
Alan Carnaby and Lisa Ringleff from MBIE’s Consumer Data Right Delivery team will share what’s ahead in the next chapter in New Zealand’s Consumer Data Right and open banking journey.
Alan Carnaby | Director, Smart Data Economy, Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE)
Lisa Ringleff | Business Innovation Manager | Smart Data Economy, Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE)
2:25pm – Quickfire: Trio or Trilogy? Harmonising data, payments, and identity in an innovation economy.
Hosted by Scott Farrell, this keynote explores how the three foundational elements of the digital economy — data, payments, and identity — can be harmonised to create a more connected and innovative financial ecosystem.
Drawing on global experience and policy insights, Scott will examine how alignment across these domains can drive trust, efficiency, and competitiveness, and what this could mean for Aotearoa New Zealand’s future.
This forward‑looking keynote sets the stage for collaboration between government, regulators, and industry — to align data, payments, and identity into the foundational infrastructure of an open, inclusive, and forward‑thinking digital economy.
Dr Scott Farrell | Strategic Counsel, King & Wood Mallesons
2:45pm – Fireside chat
Adam Gagen | Global Head of Government Affairs, Revolut
3:00pm – Payments: From Global Shifts to Local Action
Building on the global insights shared earlier in the day, this panel explores what New Zealand can do locally to accelerate innovation in payments.
Industry leaders and policymakers will discuss how international trends in real‑time payments, digital identity, and open data can translate into practical steps for Aotearoa’s financial ecosystem.
The conversation will highlight challenges around infrastructure, regulation, and collaboration — and identify the opportunities for New Zealand to lead in delivering faster, smarter, and more inclusive payment systems that work for everyone.
Moderator: 
Nicola Raynes-Pene | National Industry Lead – Financial Services, KPMG
Panellists:
Sean Preston | Head of Enterprise Sales, Worldline NZ
Emma Geard | Senior Associate, MinterEllisonRuddWatts
Chad Haighmark | Head of Strategy, Payments NZ
3:25pm – Afternoon Tea Break
3:55pm – Explore how AI can transform every organisation into a “total neural enterprise.”
Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving from a business tool to a core driver of transformation. This session explores how AI can enable every organisation to become a “total neural enterprise” — a connected, adaptive system where data, decisions, and people operate in sync.
Together we’ll unpack what it looks like to embed AI across operations, customer experience, risk/compliance, and strategy, and how that unlocks new levels of efficiency, insight, and innovation. Through global examples and practical takeaways, the session will outline the foundational capabilities required to build an organisation that can learn, evolve, and innovate continuously — moving beyond one-off “rip and replace” change programmes toward sustained, compounding improvement.
Guiding the discussion is Rich Tong, who has spent three decades at the forefront of every major tech wave — from the PC revolution to mobile, cloud, and now AI. At Microsoft, Rich helped turn Excel from an underdog into a global powerhouse and later steered flagship products including Windows NT, SQL Server, and Exchange, scaling enterprise revenues from $49M to $12.5B. He went on to co-found Ignition Partners and Qiming Venture Partners, two venture firms now managing $11B+, with early investments in companies such as DocuSign and Xiaomi. Today, he’s helping lead TNE.ai, building enterprise AI platforms powered by the latest advances in large language models — and translating that progress into what leaders need to do now to create smarter, more responsive, and more resilient businesses for the digital era.
Richard Tong | Co-founder, TNE.ai
4:15pm – From KYC to Continuous Trust: Rethinking Identity in Real-Time Finance, Agentic Commerce, and Open Payments
Explore how identity is evolving from a point-in-time compliance requirement (KYC) to a continuous, interoperable trust layer that enables open finance, real-time payments, agentic commerce, and global digital markets.
Focus on the convergence of:
– Identity as infrastructure
– Open banking / open finance adoption
– Fraud prevention and risk intelligence
– Borderless interoperability
– Commercial incentives that drive ecosystem growth
Moderator:
Andy Higgs | Executive Director, Digital Identity New Zealand
Panellists:
Jerome Faury | CEO, Immersve
Konstantin Poptodorov | Director of Market Planning, LexisNexis® Risk Solutions
4:35pm – What’s slowing down the digital asset revolution?
Led by Jason Titman, CEO of Swyftx, this keynote explores what New Zealand must do to unlock the next wave of financial and digital innovation.
As global fintech advances accelerate, New Zealand faces a widening regulation, legislation, and information gap that risks slowing progress and investment. Jason will examine how we can modernise our frameworks to encourage innovation while maintaining strong consumer protection and trust.
This session challenges policymakers, industry leaders, and innovators alike to consider what needs to change — and how we can work together to build a future where innovation and safety move hand in hand.
Jason Titman | CEO, Swyftx
5:05pm – Networking Function
Welcome from Max Lau | Head of Business & Talent Attraction / Investment Promotion, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office