Westpac NZ has introduced automatic income and expense categorisation for people applying for individual personal loans, significantly improving average application times. The bank has partnered with New Zealand-based open finance provider Akahu to deliver the functionality.
Customers applying for personal loans through Westpac One® online banking can now have transaction data from their Westpac accounts combined with uploaded statements from other financial providers. All transactions are categorised together within seconds, creating a single view of the customer’s financial position. The functionality will be available to customers using the current version of Westpac One.
Customers are required to review the income and expense categories and amounts – and edit or add additional information, if required – before submitting their application.
Previously, customers needed to manually categorise and enter this information themselves, so the new process will save people time and effort.
Russell Jones, Westpac NZ Chief Data, Digital & AI Officer, says categorisation is a further step in Westpac’s work with open banking providers to make experiences simpler and easier.
“We want to deliver innovative banking tools that reduce friction for people. In the next year, Westpac customers will be able to use the open banking framework to easily apply for other types of lending, including credit cards, without needing to upload multiple documents. If their application meets eligibility requirements, they may be able to access the money in under one hour.”
Any lending applications continue to be subject to eligibility criteria, lending criteria and relevant terms and conditions.
Josh Daniell, Akahu co-founder, says banks have invested significant resources into making open banking available to their customers.
“It’s great to now be at a point where banks are using open banking functionality in their own services and experiences, and we’re pumped to see Westpac, as one of New Zealand’s largest banks, leading the charge. This is an example of the innovation and competition benefits that the new regulated open banking system is intended to deliver,” Mr Daniell says.
“The regulated open banking system went live in December 2025, and the customer uptake in the first year has been remarkably strong. We’re already facilitating regulated open banking services for more than 230 products and organisations, including government entities and household name companies, that have seen the opportunities and acted quickly.”
Mr Jones says Westpac customers’ use of open banking is continuing to surge.
“Last month users shared account information securely through APIs more than 2 million times, representing a 46% increase in account access requests on the previous month,” Mr Jones says.
“It’s great to see increasing numbers of New Zealanders using the open banking framework to make safe and secure payments. In the past year, we’ve seen user numbers of open banking increase more than six-fold, with more people adopting it every month.
“We’re also very supportive of MBIE assuming responsibility for the management and further development of open banking standards, as well as more broadly of open data standards. The continued rollout of open banking functionality will deliver positive outcomes for consumers and businesses alike, and we look forward to working with MBIE and the wider industry to achieve this.”
Last year, Westpac announced it had partnered with Akahu to deliver transaction enrichment, meaning Westpac customers can click into their transactions in online banking or via the bank’s app to view details such as a business’s full name, location and logo.
“In the 12 months since we introduced transaction enrichment, more than 850,000 customers have used their phone banking app to access the details of nearly 26 million transactions,” Mr Jones says.
“It’s great to be continuing our partnership with Akahu to simplify banking for our customers. They’re an innovative New Zealand company and we’re pleased to be working with them.
“Harnessing data and automation to deliver enriched banking experiences for our customers is a focus for us and we’re excited about the value still to come.”
