Unlocking New Zealand's Digital Economy

A Kiwi with a good idea should be able to build it here.
Instead, our financial rules are still catching up with technology that is already changing how people raise money, invest and get paid.

A fintech start-up can face rules designed for major financial institutions before it has even proved its product. Legitimate digital-finance businesses can struggle to get a bank account. Someone making a small purchase with digital assets can face pointless tax paperwork. That holds New Zealand back.

ACT will modernise the rules so Kiwis can get investment into good ideas, build new financial businesses here and use new ways of moving money, without giving up strong protections against fraud and financial crime.

Read our full policy, Unlocking New Zealand's Digital Economy, here.

ACT will:

• Make international payments faster and cheaper. ACT will set clear rules for qualifying payment stablecoins, including strong requirements to protect consumers and the financial system.

• Stop pointless tax paperwork on small purchases. ACT will introduce a sensible exemption for low-value purchases made with digital assets, so Inland Revenue can focus on transactions that actually matter.

• Make it easier for New Zealand businesses to raise money. ACT will create clear legal and tax rules for tokenised assets, allowing ownership in things like businesses, farms, infrastructure and commercial property to be divided and transferred digitally with confidence.

• Give financial start-ups room to prove themselves. Innovative businesses will be able to test new products under supervision before being required to meet the full regulatory regime designed for established financial institutions.

• Give long-term digital investors a clear tax rule. Qualifying personal investments held for more than 12 months will fall outside the new bright-line rule. Professional traders and businesses will continue to be taxed under existing rules.

• Tackle blanket de-banking. ACT will review rules that may be encouraging banks and payment providers to shut legitimate, properly regulated fintech businesses out of essential financial services.

In our team's words:

ACT Deputy Leader Nicole McKee says:

“New technology is changing how businesses raise capital, how people invest, and how money moves around the world. Tokenised assets can open up new sources of investment. Stablecoins can make international payments faster and cheaper. New financial technology can create high-value businesses and jobs.

“ACT will cut red tape, set clear rules, and open up investment so Kiwis can raise capital, pay and get paid more easily, and take part in the technologies shaping the future - while keeping strong consumer and financial safeguards".

ACT MP Cameron Luxton says:

“ACT will be unlocking more growth, better jobs, and a future-ready economy that New Zealanders can participate in.

"We will align digital finance policy with a bigger goal, getting capital flowing to good ideas and helping entrepreneurs build globally competitive businesses from New Zealand."