New Zealand Company Registry (2026 Update)
Updated: 22 June 2026
New Zealand runs one of the most open corporate registers in the world, but it has the weakest beneficial ownership disclosure of any developed common-law jurisdiction. The register will tell you who the directors and listed shareholders are in seconds, for free, from anywhere. It will not tell you who controls the company.
What is the New Zealand Companies Register?
The Companies Register is the official record of every company incorporated in New Zealand, administered by the Companies Office, a unit of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to put its company register fully online with public access, back in 2004, and that openness still defines it: no account, no fee, and no local ID to search or download filings.
It is one of several registers the Companies Office runs, including the NZBN Register, the Limited Partnerships Register, and the Societies and Trusts Register.
For company checks: The Companies Register
For sole traders, partnerships, and trusts: The NZBN Register
One quirk catches foreign analysts out: a New Zealand company carries two identifiers, an internal company number assigned at incorporation and a New Zealand Business Number (NZBN).
The NZBN is a globally unique GS1 Global Location Number and is steadily becoming the primary cross-government identifier, so when you reconcile a company across systems, match on the NZBN.
What data is available?
The register is generous at the basic and officer tiers and thin at the ownership tier.
Basic: company name, company number, NZBN, incorporation date, status, registered office address, address for service, financial reporting month, and annual return filing month. Removed companies show in grey and active ones in blue.
Officers: director names, appointment dates, and, for most companies, residential addresses (although, per the Companies Address Information Amendment Act 2025, directors can change their residential address to an alternative. This comes into force by 18 November 2026).
Ownership: share capital and shareholder details are filed, but only the major shareholders are listed, and the named shareholder may be a nominee or a trust rather than the person who benefits. You will sometimes see an "Ultimate Holding Company" recorded, which helps with corporate chains but rarely lands on a natural person.
Financial: only companies above the reporting thresholds must file financial statements. Most companies file nothing more than an annual return confirming their obligations are met.
How to search the New Zealand Companies Registry
Step 1: Go to the register.
The search portal is at companies-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz
The interface is in English. You do not need an account to search or to view a company profile, and document downloads remain free.
Step 2: Run the search.
You can search by company name, company number, NZBN, or by the name of a director or shareholder, including disqualified or prohibited persons.
Step 3: Refine.
Filters include entity type, status, incorporation date, and address type and keywords, which let you narrow large result sets.
Step 4: Read the company record.
A company profile shows the name, addresses, incorporation date, NZBN, entity type, financial reporting and annual return months, share structure, and the names and addresses of directors. From the same screen, you can download the company's filings.
Available documents
Most filings are digitised and downloadable as machine-readable text, which is rare among national registers and worth using.
Company Extract (free): the summary record of name, registered office, directors and addresses, and share numbers. This is your baseline audit-trail document.
Certificate of Incorporation (free): proves the date the company was formed and its legal existence.
Particulars of Shareholding (free): shows shareholding changes as filed, useful for tracking ownership movements over time.
Constitution (free, where filed): the company's internal rules. Filing a constitution is optional regardless of size or risk, so its absence is normal and not in itself a flag.
Financial Statements (free, where filed): assets, liabilities, employee expenses, and profit before and after tax, but only for companies above the reporting thresholds. For smaller companies, you will find only an Annual Return Filed confirmation.
Director and Shareholder Consent Forms (free): the dated, signed consents to office, historically including the home address, which the 2025 address reforms will increasingly suppress.
Annual reports and AGM records are not available as web-page PDFs like UK accounts; they must be requested individually, though MBIE has signalled an intent to improve this as part of the modernisation programme.
APIs and open data
Companies Office has several REST APIs:
The NZBN API: For entity information.
A Companies Entity Role Search: For finding the entities a person directs or owns.
A Disqualified Director Search: Self-explanatory.
Bulk data: Available by request and covers shareholder information, registered addresses, NZBN data, company insolvencies, and trading areas.
There are two limitations for a compliance team running checks at scale.
First, the official APIs are split across separate services, so building full coverage means integrating several endpoints, which typically runs from a few weeks to several months.
Second, the bulk data sets are refreshed monthly, so anything you ingest can be up to a month stale at the point of decision.
Where the current state is the question, the Kyckr API reaches the New Zealand register and 300+ official registers worldwide, live through one integration.
How reliable is it?
New Zealand’s company data is among the most reliable in the world. The identity of directors is verified, for example, and the register, Companies Office, actively enforces compliance.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t without fault. It only offers shareholder information, not beneficial ownership information, meaning that bad actors can hide behind nominees.
The identities of shareholders are not verified, unlike directors, and though there is an expected rollout of unique identifiers to combat phoenixing, this is expected to be in full effect by late 2026.
2025 to 2026 reforms: what changed and what it means
1. The beneficial ownership register is back on the agenda.
After being dropped from the Companies Act modernisation package in 2024, a register of beneficial ownership for companies and limited partnerships was reinstated on 19 December 2025 as part of the Government's Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime action plan, overseen by MBIE. It is a Priority 2 action, so realistic implementation is 2027 or later.
2. Director address privacy is now law.
The Companies (Address Information) Amendment Act 2025 lets directors substitute an alternative address for their residential address on the public register, in force by 18 November 2026 at the latest.
The wider modernisation package also introduces unique identifiers for directors and general partners to combat phoenixing, stronger creditor protections in insolvency, and wider NZBN adoption.
Access structured New Zealand KYB data instantly
The Companies Register gives you free, live, public access to company, director, and shareholder data, but no public route to beneficial ownership. That gap, plus monthly-only bulk data and a set of APIs you must stitch together, is where a single integration pays off.
Kyckr connects to the New Zealand Companies Register and 300+ official registries worldwide through one API or online portal, returning source data live rather than from a cached copy, so onboarding and monitoring systems run on the current record. Book a demo to find out more.
Frequently asked questions
Is the New Zealand Companies Register free?
Yes. You can search by company name, number, NZBN, director, or shareholder, view company profiles, and download filings without an account or a fee, from any country. A new charging model is under consultation, so confirm the current position before building a workflow that assumes free downloads.
What is the difference between an NZBN and a company number?
The company number is a 13-digit identifier issued only to registered companies at incorporation. The NZBN is a globally unique GS1 identifier issued to all business entities, including sole traders and partnerships, and is becoming the primary cross-government reference. When reconciling an entity across systems, match on the NZBN.
Who can access beneficial ownership data in New Zealand?
No one, through a public register, because none exists yet. You can see legal shareholders on the Companies Register, but nominees and trusts can mask the controller.
What documents can I get from the Companies Register?
A company extract, certificate of incorporation, particulars of shareholding, constitution where filed, financial statements for companies above the reporting thresholds, and director and shareholder consent forms, all free and mostly machine-readable. Lead with the company extract and certificate of incorporation to build your audit trail.
Does New Zealand offer an API for the business register?
Yes, the Companies Office runs several REST APIs (NZBN, entity role search, disqualified director search) plus monthly bulk data, but full coverage means integrating multiple endpoints and the bulk data can be up to a month old. Use the Kyckr API if you need live data from one integration.