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13 January 2026 – Following an open recruitment process, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Board has appointed Ms Heidi Richards and Professor Prasanna Gai as external members of the Financial Policy Committee (FPC).

The FPC is a new committee of the RBNZ Board, which will make key policy decisions relating to financial stability, including setting the prudential requirements for financial institutions regulated by the RBNZ, and making macro-prudential policy decisions such as Debt-to-Income and Loan-to-Value ratios for lending.

Ms Richards is a former senior prudential regulator and internationally respected regulatory, risk and compliance leader with experience across private industry, government and not-for-profit sectors in the US, Australia and international policy-making organisations. Ms Richards has a deep understanding of prudential regulation.

Professor Gai is Professor of Macroeconomics and Head of the Departments of Economics, Accounting & Finance, and Property at the University of Auckland. Professor Gai is a leader in the fields of financial stability and monetary policy. He has published extensively on macroprudential policy and systemic risk. Professor Gai served on the Board of the Financial Markets Authority from 2018 until his resignation on 31 December 2025.

“I am pleased with the appointments to the FPC that we are announcing today, and welcome Ms Richards and Professor Gai to the FPC,” said RBNZ Board Chair Rodger Finlay.

“The FPC's work will be crucial to promoting New Zealand's financial stability and the wealth of experience of all the FPC members will enhance and bring focus to RBNZ's financial policymaking.

“I would also like to express my gratitude to all those who expressed their interest in serving as external members of the FPC. Ms Richards and Professor Gai were selected from a strong field of candidates.”

Ms Richards has been appointed for a four-year term from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2029.

Professor Gai has been appointed for a three-year term from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028. In addition to serving on the FPC, Professor Gai will continue his service on the Monetary Policy Committee.

The other members of the FPC are Governor Anna Breman and the following RBNZ non-executive Board members – Byron Pepper (who will chair the FPC), Grant Spencer, and Philip Vermeulen. Rodger Finlay will also serve on the FPC by virtue of his position as RBNZ Board Chair.  

The RBNZ Board has agreed a Charter for the FPC, setting out the operational framework for the FPC to ensure its proper management and functioning. The FPC Charter includes the terms of reference for the FPC.

The first meeting of the FPC is scheduled for late February 2026.

Source: Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

A massive black coral, measuring 4 metres high and 4.5 metres wide, has been found by researchers exploring the underwater depths of Fiordland.

The coral, a protected species, is likely to be 300-400 years old and thought to be among the largest ever seen in the waters around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Professor James Bell, a marine biologist at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, described the coral as “absolutely huge”.

“It’s by far the largest black coral I’ve seen in my 25 years as a marine biologist. Most black corals we come across when we’re diving are small, with the bigger ones usually less than two to three metres tall so finding this one was really cool,” he said.

The discovery is important as large corals provide vital breeding stock for the species, which is slow to grow.

“Pinpointing where large corals occur means we can better protect them by letting people know where not to anchor their boats or drop pots,” Professor Bell said.

Richard Kinsey, senior biodiversity ranger at the Department of Conversation, was also on the dive when the coral was discovered. “To see such a large coral looming out of the darkness was pretty special. I’ve been a marine ranger in Fiordland for nearly 20 years and it’s rare to see a coral so big. It’s easily the largest one I can remember seeing,” he said.

Victoria University researchers are working with the Department of Conservation and the Fiordland Marine Guardians to study and map the distribution of protected coral species in the fiords.

“We’d love to receive reports from anyone who knows of particularly large black corals that are greater than 4 m so we can map their distribution and find out how common such large coral colonies are throughout Fiordland,” said Professor Bell.

Despite its name, the black coral appears white in colour and only its skeleton is black. The coral is listed as a protected species under the Wildlife Act and it’s illegal to deliberately collect or damage it.

Covering period of Monday 12th – Friday 16th January – After a scorching weekend for parts of the country, MetService is forecasting a return to typical summer temperatures for the North Island, while cooler conditions take hold in the South Island. The settled weather lasts for the start of the week before rain arrives from mid-week.

Some notable stats from the hot weekend:

• Kerikeri had a record high for January on Saturday with 32.3°C which was then surpassed the following day with 32.7°C. This was also their third highest historical temperature recorded for any month.
• Whitianga equalled their highest January temperature on Sunday with 30.6°C.
• Napier Airport reached 36.3°C, which was their second highest January temperature on record and an all-time top five temperature for that station.

Parts of Tairāwhiti Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay have remaining heat alerts today (Monday) after overnight temperatures stayed above 20°C, giving little relief from the daytime heat. But for the rest of the North Island, temperatures ease back to more typical January levels this week. Warm spots include inland Waikato and Hawke’s Bay which reach temperatures in the high-20s. Much of the island stays settled apart from a few showers, before rain arrives for some on Wednesday and for most on Thursday to Friday as a low pressure system crosses the country.

The South Island is also largely settled to start the week apart from the odd shower. From the second half Wednesday, rain may arrive over the top of the island, extending to the rest of the island through Thursday and Friday with the low pressure system.

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane says, “At this early stage, Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury and eastern Otago look likely to get the largest share of the rain this week.”

The associated cloud and rain bring a noticeable cool-down over the eastern South Island from Thursday into the weekend, creating a very different feel compared to the past weekend. Temperatures are expected to sit in the mid to upper teens, with places like Ashburton dropping from around 21°C on Wednesday to closer to 16°C for the rest of the week.

“For many people, it’s a return to routine this week, but there are still opportunities to make the most of the long summer afternoons. But with rain on the cards for most of the country later this week, it’ll be worth staying across the forecast as the week unfolds,” Makgabutlane advises.

Zespri sets a new industry benchmark for speed, accuracy, and customer trust

NEW ZEALAND, Auckland – 12 January 2026 – SAP today announced that Zespri, the world’s largest marketer of premium-quality kiwifruit, has strengthened its commitment to trust and customer service by launching a fully digitised, customer-first claims platform built on SAP’s integrated cloud technologies. As a result, today, customers benefit from a simple self-service claims process that resolves issues in seconds, while smart automation helps Zespri’s teams deliver fast, consistent outcomes without compromising on quality or control.

While accounting for only one percent of sales, with the company facing more than 40,000 quality claims a year – totaling over NZD $70 million – Zespri wanted to reimage its claims process. Previously slow, manual, and at times, associated with inconsistent decision making – today, new digital tools deliver an intuitive, self-service experience through a centralised claims portal, allowing multi-delivery claims to be created in under 30 seconds, and more than 1,000 deliveries can be processed in under two minutes.

“By combining intelligent automation with human expertise, we’ve built a platform that reinforces our brand promise and sets a new industry standard for service,” said Rahul Badge, Head of In-Market Supply Chain at Zespri. “As a result, we have been able to meet our customers’ need for a simpler, faster, and more transparent experience, and give our assessors the tools to reduce manual input and share expert insights across the business. We now see each claim as a chance to show our commitment to service, quality and openness.”

This transformation has rapidly improved Zespri’s claims process, with 80 percent of claims now benefiting from human-in-the-loop automated recommendations and decision making. This has significantly reduced processing times and errors and freed assessors to focus on complex cases while maintaining Zespri’s strict audit requirements. The new platform also delivers comprehensive, real-time insights, supporting end-to-end visibility throughout Zespri’s global supply chain and unlocking opportunities for preventative action and continuous improvement.

“Zespri has set a new benchmark for customer-centric innovation in the fresh produce industry,” said Adrian Griffin, Managing Director, SAP New Zealand. “By digitising and scaling expert decision-making, Zespri is driving both operational efficiency and customer trust, strengthening its position as a global leader and delivering real value across its network.”

Leveraging SAP Commerce Cloud as the central customer interface, Zespri introduced a seamless digital journey that enables claims to be submitted across multiple deliveries in under 30 seconds. Real-time supply chain data from SAP S/4HANA, integrated with partner solutions, eliminates the need for repetitive data entry and helps prevent human error, while an advanced orchestration layer powered by SAP BTP, alongside partner solutions, automates the application of business rules and embeds human expertise at scale. The introduction of SAP Fiori applications equips Zespri’s assessors to review end-to-end supply chain data and quality inspection reports from partner solutions, keeping expert judgement central to complex claim assessments.

The claims platform, delivered in partnership with Accenture New Zealand and FAIR Consulting Group, is now live across major markets including Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, India, the United States and Europe. Business users have embraced the solution, with senior leaders describing it as “the most business-centric digital project Zespri has ever run.”

Pete Devereux, Accenture Business Architecture Manager, said, “We set out to make things simpler for everyone. The new system is easy to use and gets claims sorted more quickly, which is good news for both customers and Zespri’s teams.”

Christiaan Du Plessis, SAP & Cloud Director at FAIR Consulting Group, added, “It’s been a real pleasure working together. The impact for customers is already obvious, and we’re excited to keep building from here.”

As a result of digitising its claims process and unlocking richer, end-to-end data, Zespri is now positioned to leverage next-generation technologies, including predictive analytics and computer vision, further advancing its goals around quality, sustainability, and customer experience.

About SAP
As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE:SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit www.sap.com.