Payments NZ Rules and Standards¶
| Regulator | Payments NZ |
| Jurisdiction | NZ |
| Status | live |
| Applicability | Platform |
Payments NZ is the industry body that governs New Zealand's core payment clearing and settlement systems. Participation in these systems requires compliance with the applicable scheme rules and technical standards.
The three principal schemes relevant to a bank's retail and treasury operations are:
-
BECS (Bulk Electronic Clearing System) — governs direct debit and direct credit origination and receipt, including return codes, processing windows, and settlement. Used for payroll, recurring billing, and account-to-account transfers.
-
AFT (Automated Funds Transfer) scheme — the interbank real-time and same-day payment infrastructure, including account-to-account faster payments.
-
HVCS (High Value Clearing System) — governs high-value, time-critical payments settled through the Exchange Settlement Account System (ESAS) at the Reserve Bank of NZ. Used for RTGS, treasury, and large corporate payments.
Obligations under scheme participation include: originating and processing payments within prescribed technical standards, handling returns and dishonours according to defined return codes and timeframes, maintaining settlement positions, and meeting fraud prevention obligations set out in the Payments NZ fraud rules.
Compliance register¶
This register maps the material obligations under Payments NZ scheme rules to the platform controls and institutional processes that satisfy them.
Scope legend¶
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 🤖 Automated | Platform enforces or performs the obligation. Primary control mode is GATE, AUTO, CALC, or ALERT. Human action is not required in the normal case. |
| 📊 Evidenced | Platform captures the evidence trail automatically. Human compliance decision sits on top. Primary control mode is LOG. |
| 🏛 Institutional | Obligation is met by a process entirely outside the platform — treasury operations, legal. Platform may generate evidence inputs but does not own the process. |
Build legend¶
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ✅ | Module built and deployed |
| 🔨 | Module planned — not yet built (build_status: Not started) |
| ❌ | Uncontrolled gap — no module attributed |
BECS — direct debit and direct credit¶
| Obligation | Scope | Policy | Platform controls | Build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Originate direct debit and direct credit instructions in prescribed BECS file format within processing windows | 🤖 Automated | PAY-001 | MOD-020 (GATE) — no payment leaves the bank without passing all pre-flight checks; enforced as sequential gate. MOD-071 (GATE) — payment details presented for customer confirmation before submission; no payment initiated without explicit authorisation | 🔨 |
| Apply BECS return codes correctly; return instructions must be processed within prescribed timeframe and funds credited to the originator | 🤖 Automated | PAY-009 | MOD-122 (AUTO) — returned payments (invalid account, account closed) credited back to the originating account automatically with customer notification | 🔨 |
| Payment fraud prevention — BECS direct debits must comply with Payments NZ fraud obligation framework | 🤖 Automated | PAY-005 | MOD-020 (GATE) — fraud score gate applied before every payment; high-risk payments blocked or challenged. MOD-021 (GATE) — velocity limits prevent account takeover fraud patterns | 🔨 |
| Retain payment records in the prescribed format for audit and dispute resolution | 📊 Evidenced | PAY-001 | MOD-001 (GATE) — payment posting enforces settlement finality; entry is atomic and irreversible. Every payment record retained in the immutable ledger | 🔨 |
AFT scheme — interbank faster payments¶
| Obligation | Scope | Policy | Platform controls | Build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Submit interbank payment instructions to the Payments NZ clearing network meeting scheme validation requirements | 🤖 Automated | PAY-001 | MOD-122 (GATE) — all outbound NZ interbank payments pass pre-payment validation (balance, sanctions, daily limits) before submission to the Payments NZ clearing network | 🔨 |
| Apply fraud screening to all AFT payments before submission | 🤖 Automated | PAY-005 | MOD-122 (AUTO) — NZ interbank payments pass through the transaction fraud scorer before submission; high-risk payments trigger a review hold | 🔨 |
| Process AFT returns and dishonours according to prescribed return code definitions and timeframes | 🤖 Automated | PAY-009 | MOD-122 (AUTO) — returned payments credited back to the originating account automatically with customer notification | 🔨 |
| Maintain settlement position with Payments NZ; ensure settlement obligations are met within prescribed windows | 🏛 Institutional | PAY-001 | Treasury and settlement management is institutional. MOD-082 (AUTO) — nostro account positions reconciled against correspondent bank statements on every settlement cycle; discrepancies flagged automatically for treasury review | 🔨 |
Open banking — Payments NZ API Centre¶
| Obligation | Scope | Policy | Platform controls | Build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| API Centre participants must implement the prescribed open banking API standards and consent model | 🤖 Automated | PAY-010 | MOD-061 (GATE) — enforces customer consent scope at the API layer; all third-party data requests blocked without valid, active consent | 🔨 |
| Customer consent for open banking data sharing must be captured, maintained, and revocable | 🤖 Automated | PAY-010 | MOD-061 (GATE) — consent scope validated at the API gateway before every third-party request | 🔨 |
HVCS — high value clearing¶
| Obligation | Scope | Policy | Platform controls | Build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-value ESAS payments submitted to HVCS must meet RBNZ prescribed message formats (ISO 20022) and be settled within the ESAS session window | 🏛 Institutional | PAY-001 | HVCS participation and ESAS settlement management are institutional treasury operations. No dedicated HVCS platform module — high-value payment origination is handled at the institutional treasury layer with support from MOD-082 for nostro position management | ❌ |
Institutional obligations (not platform scope)¶
| Obligation | Owner | Platform evidence input |
|---|---|---|
| Payments NZ scheme membership maintenance and fee payments | Head of Payments | Not platform scope |
| ESAS settlement account management (RBNZ HVCS) | Head of Treasury | MOD-082 nostro positions feed the treasury dashboard |
| Scheme audit and compliance attestation to Payments NZ | Head of Payments / Chief Compliance Officer | MOD-020, MOD-122 payment records; MOD-082 settlement reconciliation |
| Incident reporting to Payments NZ for scheme disruption events | Head of Payments / Head of Technology | MOD-150 operational risk register and incident records |
Coverage summary¶
| Area | Total obligations | Platform automated 🤖 | Platform evidenced 📊 | Institutional 🏛 | Gap ❌ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BECS | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| AFT scheme | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Open banking API Centre | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HVCS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 11 | 8 (73%) | 1 (9%) | 2 (18%) | 0 |
All attributed modules are currently build_status: Not started.
Related policies¶
| Policy | Title |
|---|---|
| PAY-001 | Payment Operations Policy |
| PAY-005 | Payment Fraud Prevention Policy |
| PAY-008 | Payment Routing & Sponsor Abstraction Policy |
| PAY-009 | Payment Exceptions, Returns & Reversals Policy |
| PAY-010 | Open Banking & API access |
See D06 Payments & Settlement for the full risk domain.
Official documentation¶
- Payments NZ — scheme rules and standards
- Payments NZ API Centre
- RBNZ — Exchange Settlement Account System (ESAS)
Policies referencing this standard¶
- PAY-001 — Payment Operations Policy
- PAY-008 — Payment Routing, Sponsor & Card-Scheme Abstraction Policy
- PAY-009 — Payment Exceptions, Returns & Reversals Policy
- PAY-010 — Open Banking & API access
Compiled 2026-05-22 from source/entities/regulations/nz-payments-nz-rules.yaml