Akahu Apply — Apply Referrals & enhancements

Desktop Cloud New Feature

Overview

The Akahu Apply Bank Account Enquiry service (New Zealand Open Banking) was introduced in v6.00.03. v6.00.04 adds one headline capability — Apply Referrals — together with several refinements to the standard sharing-request flow.

Apply Referrals let you start an enquiry from a broker Referral Code. A broker or introducer runs the open-banking data share with the applicant up front and Akahu issues a short referral code that already carries that share. Instead of sending the applicant through the full consent flow again, you simply redeem the code in finPOWER Connect and the shared data is pulled straight into an enquiry. If the share has already completed, the report is built immediately; if it is still in progress, the enquiry stays In Progress and the report is built when the data arrives.

The other enhancements in this release are: an option to skip Akahu's landing page, institution filtering on the sharing request, a Validate URL button for the Redirect URL, a lift of the requested history range to 730 days, and a Sign Up prompt with an Akahu contact email on the Cost Centre. Akahu Apply enquiries are now also included in Data Retention processing. All of these apply on both Desktop and Cloud.

Prerequisites

Bank Account Enquiry Add-On licensed

Country set to New Zealand

An Akahu Apply account with an API Key (sign up via the Cost Centre's Sign Up link)

A Cost Centre with the Akahu service enabled and Bank Account Enquiry turned on

For Apply Referrals: Enable Apply Referrals? ticked on the Cost Centre, and a Referral Code supplied by your broker

Setup & Configuration

All Akahu options live on the Cost Centre. Configure them on the Akahu page of the Cost Centres form (Desktop) or the HtmlWidget_CostCentreEdit_Akahu widget (Cloud). Every option below is exposed on both platforms, and the Cloud read-only Cost Centre view now shows the new options too.

Enable Apply Referrals

Tick Enable Apply Referrals? (default off). When on, the enquiry wizard offers an Apply Referral mode alongside the standard New Enquiry mode.

Set the sharing-request options

Configure the standard sharing request:

Requested days — days of history to request. The cap has been lifted to 730 days (range 30–730, default 90).
Skip Landing Page? — sends the applicant straight into the open-banking consent flow, bypassing Akahu's landing page. This is automatically disabled when Allow Manual Uploads is on, because manual PDF upload is only offered from the landing page.
Allow Manual Uploads? — lets the applicant upload PDF statements instead of connecting a bank.

Validate the Redirect URL

Enter the Redirect URL the applicant is returned to after completing the enquiry, then use the Validate URL button. It checks that the value is a well-formed https:// URL and that it responds successfully before you save.

Sign up / get help

If you do not yet have an Akahu Apply account, use the Sign Up link on the Cost Centre. The Akahu contact email (hello@akahu.nz) is also shown for support queries.

Option	Description	Default
Enable Apply Referrals?	Adds the Apply Referral (redeem a broker code) mode to the enquiry wizard.	Off
Skip Landing Page?	Bypasses Akahu's landing page (disabled while Allow Manual Uploads is on).	Off
Requested days	Days of history requested (range 30–730).	90
Redirect URL	Post-completion redirect, with a Validate URL button.	—

How to Use

Workflow A — Redeem an Apply Referral

Open the enquiry and choose Apply Referral

From a Client or Account Application applicant, start the Akahu Apply Bank Account Enquiry. After selecting the applicant and Branch, choose the Apply Referral mode (only shown when the branch's Cost Centre has Apply Referrals enabled).

Enter the Referral Code

Enter the Referral Code your broker supplied (Akahu codes take the form AK_ followed by ten characters). Finish the wizard to redeem it.

Review the enquiry

finPOWER Connect redeems the code against Akahu. If the underlying share has already completed, the enquiry report is built immediately; if the share is still processing, the enquiry stays In Progress and completes automatically once the data is available. The results appear on the same Summary Page report used for a standard Akahu Apply enquiry.

Workflow B — Standard New Enquiry (with the new options)

Choose New Enquiry

Select the New Enquiry mode. Set Days to Retrieve (up to 730), and optionally tick Allow Manual Uploads? and/or Skip Landing Page? (the two are mutually exclusive).

Send the sharing request

finPOWER Connect creates the Akahu Application and Sharing Request and sends the applicant the link (using the configured Email / SMS Documents). If Skip Landing Page is on, the applicant goes straight to the consent flow; if an institution filter is configured, Akahu skips its bank-selection screen.

Review the results

Once the applicant completes the share, the enquiry retrieves the data and renders the Akahu Apply Summary Page report on the record's Log — the same report used before this release.

Platform Differences

Aspect	Desktop	Cloud
Cost Centre configuration	Native Cost Centres form, Akahu page	`HtmlWidget_CostCentreEdit_Akahu`; the read-only Cost Centre view also shows the new options
Running an enquiry	`HtmlWidget_AkahuApply_BankAccountEnquiry` (hosted on Desktop, and used directly in Cloud)
Apply Referrals, Skip Landing Page, 730-day range, Redirect-URL validation	Available identically on both platforms.

Permission Keys

The Akahu enhancements introduce no new permission key. Configuration is gated by the Cost Centre permissions; running an enquiry is gated by the Bank Account Enquiry Add-On, service availability and the standard record-view filters.

Permission Key	Description
`Admin.CostCentres`	Required to edit Akahu credentials and options (including Enable Apply Referrals) in Cloud.
`CostCentres`	Form key required to open the Cost Centre Edit widget.

Settings

There are no Global, User or Role settings for Akahu — all configuration lives on the Cost Centre (see Setup above). Availability is governed by the Bank Account Enquiry Add-On and Country = New Zealand.

Tips & Best Practices

Tip — Use Apply Referrals for broker-originated deals

Apply Referrals shine where a broker has already captured the applicant's bank data. Redeeming the code avoids asking the applicant to connect their bank a second time, which reduces drop-off and speeds up the decision.

Tip — Skip the landing page for a tighter flow

If you don't use manual PDF uploads, turning on Skip Landing Page? takes the applicant straight into the bank-connect consent screen — one fewer step. Add an institution filter if your applicants overwhelmingly bank with one or two institutions.

Important — Skip Landing Page and Manual Uploads can't both be on

Manual PDF upload is only offered on Akahu's landing page, so enabling Allow Manual Uploads? automatically disables and greys out Skip Landing Page?. The service rejects the combination if it is somehow set. Decide which of the two your process needs.