How people pay in New Zealand in 2026
New Zealand is one of the most card-heavy markets in the world, and the cards it uses are changing. The domestic EFTPOS debit network, which charges merchants a flat fee, is losing ground to Visa and Mastercard debit cards that work contactless, online and in phones. The Commerce Commission reports that Visa and Mastercard now carry 74% of payments, up from 57% in 2019, and that businesses pay about NZ$1 billion a year to accept them. Regulators have answered with interchange caps, while a proposed ban on in-store card surcharges stalled in 2026.
Online, shoppers have options. Digital wallets took 29% of e-commerce value in 2025, cards 46%, BNPL 13% and account-to-account payments 11%, according to the Global Payments Report. Account-to-account payments are getting a second wind: open banking moved to regulated APIs under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025, and local players such as POLi and BlinkPay now run on the big banks' official connections. Cash is still used by a large minority but shrinks every year.
- 74% of payments run on Visa and Mastercard, up from 57% in 2019 (Commerce Commission)
- 29% of online payment value made with digital wallets in 2025 (Global Payments via CFOtech)
- 550,000 open banking payments in August 2026 (interest.co.nz)
- 40.3% of New Zealanders pay for everyday things with cash, September 2025 quarter (Reserve Bank of New Zealand)
Payment by card in New Zealand
Cards dominate in-store spending. They made up 73% of point-of-sale value in 2025, according to the Global Payments Report. Paymark, the switch behind much of the EFTPOS network, saw NZ$3.85 billion of core retail spending in May 2026, up 1.2% on a year earlier, even as transaction numbers fell 1.1%. Paymark changed hands in 2026: Australia's Cuscal completed its purchase from Worldline on May 29, 2026, and the company now trades as Cuscal Paymark.
The structural shift is from EFTPOS to scheme debit. The Commerce Commission says EFTPOS keeps losing share because it cannot handle online, contactless or phone payments. To cut costs, it capped interchange fees on domestic credit cards at 0.30% in person and 0.70% online from December 1, 2025, and on foreign cards from May 1, 2026. It estimates the decision saves businesses about NZ$90 million a year. A bill to ban in-store surcharges passed its first reading in 2025 but stalled in early 2026, so surcharging stays legal under the Retail Payment System Act 2022.
Card schemes in New Zealand
EFTPOS
Domestic debit network
New Zealand's legacy debit network, used with a card and PIN or chip at the counter. Merchants pay a flat fee instead of a percentage, but the network does not support online or contactless payments, so its share keeps falling.
Visa
International scheme
The leading scheme on New Zealand debit and credit cards, used for contactless taps in stores, online purchases and mobile wallets. Its domestic credit interchange is capped by the Commerce Commission.
74% combined Visa and Mastercard share of payments in the latest period, Commerce Commission, June 2026
Mastercard
International scheme
The second scheme in New Zealand, issued as debit and credit cards by the main banks and widely accepted at every terminal and online checkout.
Contactless debit cards
Debit card
Visa and Mastercard debit cards that replace EFTPOS-only cards and work with a tap in store, online and in phone wallets. Domestic debit interchange is capped at 0.20% for contactless and 0.60% online.
American Express
International scheme
Accepted by many larger merchants and in travel and hospitality. It is outside the interchange caps and was outside the scope of the proposed surcharge ban, so merchants often surcharge it.
Payment by cash in New Zealand
Cash is still part of daily life, but for a shrinking group. In the Reserve Bank of New Zealand household survey, 40.3% of people said they pay for everyday things with cash in the September 2025 quarter, while 36.1% had not used cash at all in the previous seven days. The RBNZ's 2023 Cash Use Survey put the share of people using cash for everyday purchases at 57.2%, down from 60.4% in 2021.
Reliance on cash is uneven. The same 2023 survey found that 12.7% of Māori used cash more than seven times a week, against 7.3% of non-Māori, and that people over 60 used cash more than younger adults. Rural residents reported more difficulty reaching cash services. The Reserve Bank says it is redesigning the cash system and made its Cash Use Survey annual from 2025, with results due in 2026. For merchants, cash matters in rural retail, hospitality and markets, while online stores rarely offer a cash option.
Cash payment methods in New Zealand
Cash
Banknotes and coins
New Zealand dollar banknotes and coins, issued by the Reserve Bank, used mostly for small purchases, by older people and in communities that rely on cash.
40.3% of New Zealanders paying for everyday things with cash, September 2025 quarter, Reserve Bank of New Zealand
Payment by bank transfer in New Zealand
Paying straight from a bank account has a long history in New Zealand. POLi has redirected shoppers to their internet banking for more than 15 years, and account-to-account payments held 11% of online value in 2025 according to the Global Payments Report. Bills are also paid by manual transfer and direct debit.
2026 is the year regulated open banking took off. Under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025, the five largest banks must offer official APIs, and open banking payments reached more than 401,000 worth over NZ$130 million in July 2026, then 550,000 in August. Payments NZ closed its API Centre on September 30, 2026 and handed standards management to MBIE. POLi moved its merchants onto the open banking connections of ASB, Westpac, ANZ and BNZ, and BlinkPay, bought by BNZ in 2024, also runs on official bank APIs. Our guide to account-to-account payments explains why these rails matter, and how variable recurring payments could follow. Our real-time payments explorer compares instant payment systems country by country.
Bank transfer methods in New Zealand
POLi
Pay by bank
New Zealand's best-known online bank payment, which prefills the payee and amount in the shopper's banking session. It closed in Australia in 2023 but continues in New Zealand under Merco, now on the banks' open banking APIs.
2,000+ merchants using POLi in July 2025, Westpac NZ
BlinkPay
Pay by bank
Open banking payment provider offering one-off and recurring pay-by-bank at checkout, acquired by BNZ in 2024 while keeping its independent leadership.
Open banking payments
Account-to-account
Payments initiated through the official APIs that ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank and Westpac must provide under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025, used by fintechs, billers and merchants.
550,000 open banking payments in August 2026, interest.co.nz
Online banking transfer
Bank transfer
Manual transfers to a merchant's account number from internet or mobile banking, common for invoices, trades, rent and marketplace sales.
Direct debit
Recurring debit
Bank-run direct debits remain the standard way to collect utility bills, insurance, gym memberships and other recurring payments from New Zealand bank accounts.
Payment by installment and BNPL in New Zealand
Buy now, pay later is well established in New Zealand. BNPL took 13% of online payment value in 2025, level with Australia, according to the Global Payments Report. Afterpay is the best-known brand, and gateways such as Windcave added it to their hosted checkout in October 2025.
The market has consolidated. Local pioneer Laybuy went into receivership in June 2024, and Klarna bought its New Zealand assets, relaunching Laybuy by Klarna in April 2025. Zip announced on July 17, 2026 the orderly wind-down of its New Zealand operations to focus on Australia and the US. Regulation is now in place. BNPL loans became consumer credit contracts on September 2, 2024, with an exemption from affordability checks under conditions, and the Financial Markets Authority took over the consumer credit law on July 1, 2026.
Installment and BNPL providers in New Zealand
Afterpay
BNPL
Block's pay-in-four service, the leading BNPL brand at New Zealand online and in-store checkouts, available through local gateways such as Windcave.
Laybuy
BNPL
The New Zealand-born BNPL brand, revived by Klarna after the 2024 receivership, with retailers such as PB Tech, Postie and Mix and Match back on board at relaunch.
500,000+ consumers had opened Laybuy accounts at the time of the 2024 sale, interest.co.nz
Credit card installments
Card installments
Bank credit cards and card-linked installment plans remain the main way to spread larger purchases, now under the same consumer credit rules supervised by the Financial Markets Authority.
Payment by digital wallet and X-Pay in New Zealand
Digital wallets are now the single most used online payment method in New Zealand. They took 29% of e-commerce value in 2025 and are forecast to reach 37% by 2030, according to the Global Payments Report. In stores, wallets made up 15% of point-of-sale value, with cards still funding most wallet payments. Apple Pay and Google Pay carry most of these X-Pay payments, on top of tokenized Visa and Mastercard debit cards.
Phones are also becoming terminals. Tap to Pay on iPhone launched in New Zealand with Adyen, ANZ, Stripe, Windcave and Worldline as the first platforms, letting small merchants accept contactless cards and wallets without extra hardware. The Commerce Commission notes that the rise of mobile wallets is one reason Visa and Mastercard keep gaining share over EFTPOS, which cannot be loaded into these wallets.
Digital wallets and X-Pay in New Zealand
Apple Pay
Mobile wallet
Apple's wallet, supported by the main New Zealand banks, used for contactless payments in store and one-click card payments online and in apps.
29% of online payment value made with digital wallets in 2025, Global Payments via CFOtech
Google Pay
Mobile wallet
The Android wallet for tap-to-pay with tokenized Visa and Mastercard cards, also offered at online checkouts by New Zealand gateways.
15% of point-of-sale payment value made with digital wallets in 2025, Global Payments via CFOtech
Tap to Pay on iPhone
SoftPOS acceptance
Lets merchants accept contactless cards and wallets on an iPhone, offered in New Zealand through Windcave, Worldline, ANZ, Adyen and Stripe.
Payments in New Zealand: FAQ
What is the most common way to pay in New Zealand?
Cards, mostly debit and mostly by tap. Cards made up 73% of in-store payment value in 2025 according to the Global Payments Report, and Visa and Mastercard now carry 74% of payments, as the domestic EFTPOS network declines.
Is POLi still available in New Zealand?
Yes. POLi closed in Australia in 2023, but the New Zealand service continues under local owner Merco. It moved its merchants onto the open banking APIs of ASB, Westpac, ANZ and BNZ in 2025.
Are card surcharges banned in New Zealand?
Not as of late 2026. A bill to ban in-store surcharges on EFTPOS, Visa and Mastercard passed its first reading in 2025, but lost political support in 2026. The Commerce Commission instead capped interchange fees, saving businesses about NZ$90 million a year.
Is open banking live in New Zealand?
Yes. The five largest banks must provide official APIs under the Customer and Product Data Act 2025, and New Zealand recorded 550,000 open banking payments in August 2026. MBIE took over open banking standards when the Payments NZ API Centre closed in September 2026.
Accept local payments in New Zealand with NORBr
In New Zealand, merchants accept cards through bank acquirers such as ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac, with gateways like Windcave on top and Paymark switching EFTPOS. Check in-store EFTPOS, open banking coverage of the major banks, and NZD settlement.
With NORBr, you can connect any acquirer, PSP or local provider that offers EFTPOS, contactless cards, pay-by-bank options such as POLi and BlinkPay, and BNPL such as Afterpay. Some are already in our connector catalog; Mapper™ gets the others live in days, and Smart Checkout shows each shopper the right methods. Explore the other #PayWorldTour guides.
Local payment providers in New Zealand
Windcave
Payment gateway
New Zealand gateway and terminal provider serving retail, hospitality and unattended merchants, online and in store. It added Afterpay to its hosted payment page in 2025 and was among the first Tap to Pay on iPhone platforms in the country.
Covers: Cards, EFTPOS, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Afterpay, Tap to Pay on iPhone
Cuscal Paymark
Payment switch
The long-standing New Zealand switch for EFTPOS and card transactions, sold by Worldline to Australia's Cuscal in 2026, and publisher of a monthly retail spending index.
NZ$3.85 billion core retail spending on its network in May 2026, Paymark
Covers: EFTPOS, Visa, Mastercard
POLi
Pay-by-bank provider
Online bank payment service owned in New Zealand by Merco, used by billers, councils and online shops, and now running on the open banking APIs of the four largest banks.
2,000+ merchants in July 2025, Westpac NZ
Covers: POLi bank payments, open banking payments
BlinkPay
Pay-by-bank provider
Open banking payment provider owned by BNZ, offering Blink PayNow for one-off payments and Blink AutoPay for recurring payments, live with ASB since 2024.
Covers: Open banking payments, recurring account payments
Akahu
Open banking platform
New Zealand open finance platform connecting apps to bank accounts, accredited under the Customer and Product Data Act in December 2025, and close to 36% owned by Westpac NZ venture arm Red Bird Ventures.
Covers: Bank account data, enduring payments via official open banking APIs
