Innovation Excellence Awards 2025

About the 2025 Innovation Excellence Awards

For Canstar’s Innovation Excellence Awards, New Zealand financial institutions were invited to submit their innovative products or services that were brought to market within the last year.

All submissions and nominations for the 2025 Innovation Excellence Awards were judged and assessed by Canstar’s expert Research Committee up against our sophisticated and unique ratings methodology.

Products and services assessed were measured and calculated against two factors:

Degree of innovation: 

• How different and unique is the product?
• How disruptive is the innovation within the current market?
• The ‘WOW’ factor to impress the judges.

Impact:

• How many customers could benefit?
• What’s the affordability of the product and ease of use?
• How will it improve and affect a consumer’s daily life?

All these factors were scored on a rating from one to five, and then weighted to produce a final score. The degree of innovation is weighted at 40% and a product’s impact is weighted at 60%.

You can learn more about the evaluation and calculation details in the methodology.

About the Innovation Excellence Award Winners

(Winners are listed alphabetically)

Cove

Cove + Sharesies Integration

The Cove and Sharesies partnership offers car insurance within the Sharesies app, providing Sharesies users with an easy, cost-effective way to manage their car insurance alongside their investments and savings.

The integration targets primarily younger drivers and cost-conscious consumers and offers a 5% discount on premiums, in addition to other savings, for annual payments and multi-policy bundles.

The digital-first experience makes it easy to compare, purchase and manage insurance cover, including the claims process.

Judges’ comments

Cove Insurance, in partnership with Sharesies, offers a streamlined car insurance solution that integrates directly into the Sharesies platform.

The collaboration provides a convenient place for users to manage their car insurance alongside investments, KiwiSaver, and savings within a single app.

The integration is unique, with considerable wow factor and impact, as it aims to simplify financial management by combining insurance and investment tools in one easy-to-use digital platform.

Sharesies

AI Search

Sharesies’ AI Search enables investors to find stocks and ETFs based on keywords, such as sustainability, female-led companies, or space tourism.

The AI hub does not give individual investment advice, rather it provides broad information about financial markets, which can be reviewed and analysed.

The tool addresses a major challenge in investing: knowing where to start. It streamlines the research process by organising data and guiding investors towards more confident and informed choices.

Judges’ comments

AI Search provides financial information on over 10,000 companies and ETFs, giving users unique insights into potential investments.

Unlike general search engines or financial news platforms, AI Search provides structured, relevant, and moderated information, which is unique when it comes to AI-driven investment research.

By combining AI-generated commentary with broad financial data, it truly empowers Kiwi investors to efficiently find information to support their financial decision-making.

About Star Ratings

See all Canstar Star Ratings and Award results →