Change Financial Limited announced its plans to establish direct issuing services for card programs in Australia and New Zealand. The direct issuing capability will enable Change to accelerate the establishment of programs with physical and digital card payments. The model in Australia and New Zealand allows Change to issue cards directly through a partnership with a card scheme and will be provided through the Vertexon software as a service platform which was launched in October 2021.

A key component of enabling direct issuing in Australia and New Zealand is receiving the necessary regulatory approvals. Change, through its wholly owned subsidiary Change Labs NZ Pty Ltd, announced that it has received regulatory approval in New Zealand and is now a registered Financial Service Provider (FSP). This approval enables Change to provide the following services in New Zealand: issuing or managing the means of payment; keeping, investing, administering, or managing money, securities, or investment portfolios on behalf of other persons; and operating a money or value transfer service.

Registration as an FSP will enable Change to issue debit and prepaid cards in New Zealand. Change has also applied for an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) which would enable the issuance of prepaid cards in Australia. The application is currently under consideration by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Change will update the market as to progress with its AFSL application in due course. Finally, Change is in discussions with the payment schemes regarding a partnership for issuing cards in Australia and New Zealand. These discussions are well advanced and Change is evaluating the most attractive partnership offering to drive future growth.

Change will update the market in due course once a partnership is finalised.