Explanatory Note: Electronic Identity Verification Guideline published 

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16 July 2021

The Department of Internal Affairs, Financial Markets Authority and Reserve Bank of New Zealand have published a new explanatory note guideline for Part 3 of the Amended Identity Verification Code of Practice. This guideline replaces the previous version published in 2017 and provides reporting entities with a more detailed guideline explaining Electronic Identity Verification (EIV) under the code.  

Please note that you must take supervisor guidance, such as this guideline update, into account in your AML/CFT Programme (see section 57(2) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act 2009). 

The new guideline includes additional content about commonly used electronic sources in New Zealand and sets out the supervisors’ expectations when they review or inspect a reporting entity’s EIV procedures, policies, and controls. The new guideline also includes examples of EIV practices as well as a section on the supervisors’ view on EIV for high-risk customers (the code is only applicable for customers that are assessed by the reporting entity as low to medium risk).  

An appendix is included that is relevant to reporting entities who use the ‘first credit’ linking mechanism to confirm the person dealt with online matches the identity they are claiming. The appendix lists the registered banks in New Zealand that can be relied upon if this method is used – if a particular bank is not listed, and your customer is sending funds from that bank, a different method should be used.  

As with the previous version, the update retains information about what EIV is, and is not, under the code.  

The new guideline is available here:

• Explanatory Note (PDF, 560KB)* 
• Explanatory Note (DOCX, 226KB)*