How Tapara Uses Open Banking
When customers pay through Tapara using bank accounts, the payment processes via Open Banking — a secure, industry-standard way to make one-off payments directly from your bank.
No credentials stored
We never see your bank login
One-off payments only
No recurring access to your account
Minimal data
We receive payment status and a reference ID — nothing else
How in-app payments benefit users
Near-zero fees for the merchant
Open Banking payments carry no interchange, no scheme fees, and no acquirer margin. That means no surcharges passed on to you, and more of your money going to the businesses you support.
Direct bank-to-bank
The payment goes directly from your bank account to the merchant’s bank account. No intermediary holding your funds, no card network in the middle. Simple, direct, and fast.
Scope of access
tapara uses Open Banking only to initiate one-off payments that you explicitly approve. Nothing more.
Payments
One-off only
Each payment is a single, standalone transfer. Tapara cannot set up recurring payments, direct debits, or standing orders on your account.
Account access
None
Tapara does not have access to your bank account balance, transaction history, or any other account information. We can only initiate a payment when you approve it.
Credentials
Never stored
Tapara never sees, collects, or stores your bank login credentials. Authentication happens directly with your bank via Akahu’s secure Open Banking connection.
What Tapara receives
When a payment is processed, Tapara receives only the minimum information needed to confirm the transaction.
Payment status
Whether the payment was successful, pending, or failed. This lets us show you and the merchant a confirmation.
Reference ID
A unique transaction identifier used to match the payment to your order. This is not your bank account number.
Tapara does not receive your account number, bank balance, transaction history, or any other banking information.
Payment limits
To protect both consumers and merchants, Open Banking payments through tapara have the following limits.
Per transaction
$5,000
Daily limit
$1,000
Minimum
$0.50
These limits are set for security and fraud prevention purposes and are in addition to any limits set by your bank. If a payment exceeds these limits, you can pay using a card instead.
You’re in control
Because tapara uses one-off payments with no ongoing connection to your bank, there’s nothing to cancel.
Switch banks
Change which bank account you pay from at any time in the tapara app.
Pay by card instead
Choose to pay by card for any transaction. Open Banking is always optional.
Delete your account
Your bank connection is removed immediately. There is no ongoing link to your bank after deletion.
Akahu
Tapara does not connect to your bank directly. All Open Banking payments are processed through Akahu, which provides open finance infrastructure for New Zealand.
Akahu is a CDR-accredited open finance intermediary that provides secure connections to New Zealand banks. They handle the authentication and payment initiation on Tapara’s behalf, using bank-grade encryption and security standards.
When you make a bank payment in tapara, you’ll be redirected to your bank’s secure login to approve the payment. Tapara never sees your bank credentials — that process is handled entirely by Akahu and your bank.
Learn more about Akahu open_in_newPrivacy and data
Here’s how we handle data related to Open Banking payments.
Data collected
Payment status and reference ID only. No bank account details, balances, or transaction history.
Retention
Transaction records are retained for up to 7 years as required under the Tax Administration Act 1994.
Third parties
Payment data is shared with Akahu (to process the payment) and the merchant (to confirm the order). No data is sold to third parties.
For full details, see our Privacy Policy.
Questions?
Contact usIf you have any questions about how tapara handles payments or your data, get in touch.