epay New Zealand Limited

Date Made

Date signed: 2031-04-29

Sectors

Payment providers

Enacting statement

In accordance with section 157 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing Terrorism Act 2009 (“Act”). The Associate Minister of Justice hereby gives notice that she has granted the following exemption from the Act:

Ministerial Exemption: epay New Zealand Limited

Commencement date

This exemption comes into force on 2026-04-30

End date

This exemption will expire on 2031-04-30

Exemption

As the Associate Minister of Justice, and pursuant to section 157 of the Act, I exempt epay New Zealand Limited (“epay”) from the following provisions of the Act:

1. 1. Sections 10–71 (inclusive).

In this exemption, unless the context otherwise requires:

Bill and toll payment services mean services facilitated through epay where:

1. 1. customers pay their energy bill or toll road payment to a participating retailer using an epay terminal;
   2. payment is made to the participating retailer;
   3. payment is transferred (minus fees from the retailer to epay; and

ML/TF means money laundering and terrorism financing.

Conditions

This exemption is made subject to the following conditions:

1. 1. every wire transfer must relate only to payment of either:
      1. electricity bills directly to the bank account or facility of an “industry participant” as defined under section 7(1) of the Electricity Industry Act 2010; or
      2. toll road fees to a bank account or facility of New Zealand Transport Authority.
   2. every wire transfer undertaken as part of the exempted service must be domestic in nature, as defined in section 27(7) of the Act;
   3. wire transfers undertaken as part of the exempted service must not exceed $1,000.00 in value;
   4. epay must hold and maintain evidence of the toll and bill payments conducted through epay for a period of five years in accordance with sections 49(1) and 49(3) of the Act; and
   5. epay must inform the Ministry of Justice of any changes that may affect the exemption within 10 working days of when the change occurs.

Statement of reasons

This exemption has been made for the following reasons:

1. 1. There is a low risk of money laundering and terrorism financing through epay because:
      1. epay’s bill and toll payment services are narrow in scope.
      2. The captured services involve low-value transactions.
      3. Every wire transfer undertaken as part of the exemption service must be domestic in nature.
      4. epay is still required to keep transaction records as per sections 49(1) and 49(3) of the Act.
      5. Transactions are processed through registered banks which are themselves subject to anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism obligations under the Act.
   2. the obligations imposed on epay would be disproportionate given the low risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism.
   3. the exemption granted has a low impact on the integrity of the anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism system in alignment with section 157 of the Act.

Contact

Any person wishing to provide comment on this notice should contact the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Team at the Ministry of Justice by emailing amlcft.exemptions@justice.govt.nz

Corrigendum

Previous exemptions

epay New Zealand Limited

epay New Zealand Limited