Innovation Excellence Awards 2026

Canstar’s 2026 Innovation Excellence Award Winners

Canstar’s expert research team and judging panel reveal the products and services reshaping how Kiwis manage their money, homes, and everyday lives.

Release: 29 April, 2026

2026 Innovation Excellence Award Winners

About the 2026 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 past year.

All submissions and nominations for the 2026 Innovation Excellence Awards were judged and assessed by Canstar’s expert research committee, using its sophisticated and unique ratings methodology.

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

Degree of innovation: 

• The product’s uniqueness
• The innovation’s disruptiveness within the market
• How its wow-factor impressed the judges

Impact:

• How many customers it could benefit
• The product’s affordability and ease of use
• How it improves 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 was weighted at 40% and the product’s impact at 60%.

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

Read our methodology →

Key innovation trends

This year, three key trends emerged from submissions:

• Frictionless operations: processes are becoming increasingly automated, reducing the time between a consumer’s need and the final outcome. Tasks that once required manual intervention, such as completing insurance claims or mortgage applications, are now handled by AI, improving speed and efficiency.

• Translating complexity into clarity: data and information that were once opaque are being presented in ways that are actionable and easy to understand. Consumers gain a clearer view of costs, risks, and service outcomes, helping them make better-informed decisions.

• Building resilience and security: services are being designed with built-in protective measures, helping consumers stay secure and prepared against threats such as fraud, infrastructure failures, or environmental risks. Companies are proactively embedding safety nets into products and processes to support consumer confidence and reliability.

About the Innovation Excellence Award Winners

(Winners are listed alphabetically)

ASB

This year ASB scores a remarkable hat-trick of Innovation Excellence wins, thanks to innovations that make banking safer, easier, and more sustainable.

Caller Check

Caller Check is a first-of-its-kind security feature that allows customers to verify a bank caller’s identity instantly. When an ASB employee initiates a call, they trigger a secure push notification directly to the customer’s ASB Mobile Banking app. To verify the caller’s ID, the customer simply answers the question: “Are you on a call with ASB right now?” By tapping “Yes, it’s me,” the customer confirms that they’re speaking with a legitimate bank representative.

Joint Home Loan Application

ASB’s Joint Home Loan Application system is designed to simplify and speed up the home-lending journey for co-borrowers. The technology enables two applicants to apply for a home loan together through the ASB Mobile Banking app or internet banking. The user-friendly process requires limited human interaction and empowers borrowers by providing a frictionless and speedy home-loan experience.

Smart Solar 

ASB’s Smart Solar is a two-part solution that steps up for the environment and the rural community. The ASB initiative features a five-year, 0% interest loan of up to $150,000 for solar power that combines with the high-tech Power My Farm solar toolkit, which uses laser mapping to find the best spots for solar panels.

Power My Farm, designed by Prism Earth and funded by ASB, enables NZ landowners to explore their solar options by offering detailed insights into the potential savings and beneficial environmental impacts of solar use on their land.

One NZ

Satellite TXT

In a global first, One NZ became the first company to launch a nationwide satellite service that allows compatible off-the-shelf mobile phones to communicate directly with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network.

The service allows One NZ customers to send data while out of normal terrestrial service range, via apps including Facebook Messenger, Google Maps and WhatsApp. It also allows users to send and receive text messages anywhere in the country, from remote rural areas to up to 85 nautical miles offshore.

A perfect fit for Aotearoa’s distinct geography and Kiwis’ love of the outdoors, One NZ’s Satellite TXT is not only a remarkable technological achievement, but it has the potential to save lives, by offering communication outside of conventional terrestrial mobile networks.

Tower

Tower Landslide and Sea Surge Insurance

Tower’s Landslide and Sea Surge risk-based insurance pricing harnesses the latest technology to the benefit of Kiwi home-insurance customers, by giving them access to property-level risk factors that were previously hidden.

For thousands of Kiwi homeowners, increased weather-related risks are the new reality. And Tower’s new Landslide and Sea Surge cover’s innovative use of geotech addresses these risks by analysing over 200 million data points to assess a property’s individual insurance profile.

Not only does the system deliver an increased level of transparency across Tower’s home insurance products, it provides homeowners a greater sense of security that their most valuable assets are adequately protected. And, importantly, for over 90% of Tower’s customers, it translates into a reduction in the natural hazards portion of their premiums.

See all Canstar Star Ratings and Award results →