Abstract
Payments are a feature of our day-to-day lives and critical to the smooth functioning of our economy. Yet few understand the details of how payments are supported and executed in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is in part because information on the payment process and New Zealand’s payment landscape has been difficult to access and piece together.
This article provides an accessible overview of the payments process and systems and services required to carry out a payment end-to-end in New Zealand. It introduces the 5 essential steps to processing an electronic payment and describes the interconnecting systems, services, and instruments that carry out and support these 5 steps in the back- and front-end of New Zealand’s payments landscape.