Akahu: how bank payments work on Able

01Why pay bank to bank

Able moves money from bank account to bank account instead of through cards. For a business, sales are paid straight into its own bank account with no card fees and no holding account in between. For a customer, paying means approving it at your own bank, per payment or once as a payment consent that later payments ride. Able never holds your money and never sees your banking login. Akahu is always optional. A business can run entirely on payments it collects itself; connecting its bank simply switches on the Akahu rail at checkout.

02Who Akahu is

Akahu is New Zealand’s open finance intermediary, accredited under the Customer and Product Data Act and used by banks, lenders and fintechs across the country. When you pay through Akahu you are handed to Akahu’s own secure page: your online banking credentials are entered there and only there. Able learns the outcome of the payment, never your login.

03Exactly what we ask for, and for how long

Paying takes one of two shapes, and both stay in your hands. Nothing can charge you outside what you approved at your own bank, and account numbers are stored masked wherever they are shown.

Single payments

One approval covers one payment. Your bank shows the exact amount and payee before you approve, and a payment you never approve simply never happens.

An enduring payment consent

Where Pay now is offered, you can approve an enduring payment consent once at your own bank. It names one fixed payee, a per payment limit and a monthly limit, and it lasts until you end it. Only payments inside those limits can happen without a fresh approval, and every one still appears in your history.

A connected billing payments account

When a business connects its bank, Akahu shares the account name, number and the holder name its bank confirmed. Able keeps those and an encrypted bank connection, so it knows where customer payments settle. We see no balances, transaction history or identity records.

04Ending it

A single payment ends when it settles. An enduring payment consent lasts until you end it, and ending it is always yours to do: in Able, at my.akahu.nz, or at your bank. When the account is removed, or the organisation is deleted, Able revokes its access at Akahu and deletes the details Akahu shared, as the Privacy Act 2020 requires. Removing the account stops Akahu checkout until a bank is connected again.

For a business

Remove the account under Billing payments account in Plan & billing. That ends Able’s access to your bank at Akahu. Offline payments keep working, and cancelling the subscription also ends the payment consent that funds it.

For a customer

Leave a single payment unapproved at your bank and nothing moves. Under Purchases, Revoke stops Able charging a payment consent, and Disconnect bank ends Able’s access to your bank at Akahu. You can also withdraw a consent at my.akahu.nz or at your bank.

Your data

For a business or a customer with a connected bank, Able keeps the confirmed holder name and account number, masked wherever they are shown, and an encrypted access token. Removing the account or disconnecting your bank revokes the access at Akahu and deletes them, and deleting your account does the same.