Judges have selected the five finalists from a pool of applicants and Paymark’s strategy and innovation head Ross Delaney says the field was particularly strong.

“It’s great to see so much innovation in the fintech space and the range of entries made choosing only five finalists that much tougher,” says Delaney.

The finalists will pitch their entries to the judges and conference delegation at the PaymentsNZ conference, The Point 2018, on June 26.

Each finalist will have six minutes to present, followed by a four-minute Q&A session with a panel of industry experts.

Delegates will then vote for the grand prize winner and the startup with the most votes will walk away with $10,000 and a mentoring package from Paymark.

“There’s such a wealth of talent in this field that we think we’ve made the final decision as difficult as possible for the conference goers. All five of the finalists are in with a clear shot at the title and that great package.”

Paymark sponsors the Fintech Innovation Challenge because it sees the value in innovation and disruption in the payments space.

“As the original digital payments fintech, Paymark helped take New Zealand to the front of the global payments race and now we’re looking for the next disruptor.

“By helping drive the PaymentsNZ API standards, we want to help usher New Zealand into an era of open banking and invite New Zealand’s fintechs to join us. Together we can create the future of digital payments in New Zealand.”

The winners will present their cases to the conference on the afternoon of June 26 at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland.

The five finalists are:

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