Announcing our integration with Westpac

Posted by James McCann, 1st August 2024

Today we’re officially announcing that we’ve reached a bilateral agreement with Westpac NZ to enable Westpac customers to pay Volley requests securely via Open Banking APIs.

Volley and Westpac’s integration enables the use of Payments New Zealand’s Standardised APIs for payment initiation - building on the secure, public Open Banking framework launched earlier this year.

Thanks to today’s agreement, Volley users will soon be able to approve payments to friends or businesses on Volley with the Westpac One mobile app on their phone.

Making it easy to pay and get paid

Volley is a new app that makes it easy to pay friends and share requests for things you need back - like dinners, flat groceries, or accommodation for that weekend trip away. You can pay directly from your banking app in a few taps. There’s no wallet to top up - everything happens via your bank through Open Banking. You confirm each payment you make securely in your bank’s app.

Our merchant platform, Volley for Business, brings the same great payment experience to businesses and merchants, making it easy to accept “pay by bank” transfers via payment links, adding QR codes to invoices, or paying from a web or app checkout.

Secured through Open Banking

Volley’s founder and technical lead, James McCann, says of the agreement “We’re really pleased to be working closely with Westpac to bring in a new wave of payment innovation through Open Banking”.

“Open Banking lets us integrate with your bank directly, without techniques like screen-scraping that ask for your password and are a big security and fraud risk. With Volley, you’re in control of each and every payment in your bank app.”

“We’re really excited to be able to offer Volley to more bank customers and put the app in the hands of consumers later this year”.

Westpac NZ Chief Information Officer Russell Jones says the bank is committed to working with innovative fintechs on the successful rollout and adoption of open banking.

“Open banking has the potential to provide far-reaching opportunities for customers to manage their money in new ways, from plugging into budgeting tools to splitting the cost of a meal in a quick and easy fashion,” Mr Jones says.

“We look forward to helping provide New Zealanders with more options for making payments and managing their money in a safe and secure way.”

Key Facts

Volley is a ‘pay by bank’ app that allows individuals to easily create and share payment requests, making it easy to get paid back for dinners, road trips, accommodation, or groceries for the flat.
Volley is the first consumer payments app of its kind in New Zealand opting for payment access through Payment New Zealand’s Open Banking APIs.
Volley customers confirm all payments individually in their bank app. There’s no need to top up a “wallet” and your money stays in your bank account - where it belongs.
Making a payment requires a few taps and takes about 10 seconds total and it’s made safe by the PIN or biometric (fingerprint) authentication in your bank app.
The agreement with Westpac NZ announced today adds to Volley’s existing agreement with Bank of New Zealand.

James McCann

Founder, Volley