New Zealand Tech Industry Association, along with Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, has teamed up with several New Zealand financial businesses to launch a new fintech organization called FinTechNZ.
According to the New Zealand Tech Industry Association, FinTechNZ will bring together innovative companies in the financial services industry as a way to become contributors in driving the fintech industry. FinTechNZ Core Working Group leader and New Zealand Tech Industry Association chair Mitchell Pham explained:
“Fintech will transform New Zealand through its impact on the financial services industry which carries the economy. We want to bring Kiwi fintech innovators together to strengthen the whole sector which will in turn accelerate growth of our national economy. As a cohesive sector in New Zealand, it will be easier for us to engage with the global fintech community. As we become much more connected with other economies and ecosystems, our businesses will have access to more connections and opportunities to engage and grow internationally.
“What is powerful about fintech is that it is shaping the digital economy of New Zealand, as well as making it easier to connect ours to those that are bigger and faster-growing. This will accelerate our exports, trade and international business, especially with the large economies of Asia. So far, we have received expressions of interest from over fifty organisations, including banks, insurers, finance companies, government agencies, fintech start-up’s and international giant Alibaba Group, who all want to actively participate in growing fintech in New Zealand.”
FinTechNZ launch events will take place next week in Christchurch (Tuesday), Wellington (Wednesday), and Auckland (Thursday).
“We are inviting other interested Kiwi business and organisations, from financial service providers to financial technology businesses, to join us. Collectively, we will determine what we want FinTechNZ to be and do for our businesses, the sector and how we will engage with the rest of the economy and the world.
“The 2016 TIN 100 report shows that fintech is New Zealand’s fastest-growing technology sector, at 31 per cent per annum. This is almost twice that of the overall ICT sector, three times higher than agritech, and four times higher than the biotech sector. Our financial innovation ecosystem is also very diverse, ranging from smart-payments start-ups, crowd-funders, peer-to-peer lending platforms, through to what many large financial institutions are doing. Fintech impacts broadly across the economy, including payments, banking, insurance, finance, investment, currency, wealth management, capital markets and international trade.”