Whakaaro Consulting
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New Zealand river flowing through green hills

About

We help businesses make sense of banking

Payments, cash management, liquidity, trade and receivables finance should free up time and support growth. Too often the value is hard to see, hard to implement, or hard to measure. We make that value clearer.

Who we are

Practical banking experience, used for the client

Whakaaro was founded to provide a different kind of advisory service. One built on lived banking experience rather than generic consulting frameworks.

Our experience comes from inside banking organisations, across transaction banking, payments, cash management, trade and receivables finance, foreign exchange and the wider payments ecosystem. Today that perspective sits on your side of the table.

Combined experience

85+

years of senior banking experience across the founding team

Direct access to experienced banking executives, not a hand-off to junior consultants after the first meeting.

Aotearoa

Grounded in New Zealand

Our name reflects the importance of thought, perspective and understanding. Like the rivers that shape and reveal pounamu over time, meaningful change comes through patience, experience and clarity of purpose.

We are local to Aotearoa New Zealand, with global banking experience. We have worked inside global banks, helped Kiwi businesses establish overseas banking relationships, and seen what it takes for local organisations to operate confidently at home and offshore.

What makes us different

We have worked in the parts of banking that businesses rely on every day. We translate that experience into advice customers can understand and use.

How we work

We listen first, explain clearly, and help businesses understand their options before important banking decisions. Strategy matters. Execution matters more when the bank paperwork, testing and cutover land on a busy finance team.

Team

Meet the people behind Whakaaro

Select a name to read the full bio.

Jarron Boulter

30 years · Corporate, Institutional & Liquidity

Jarron founded Whakaaro to help organisations make better banking decisions. He sees where banking meets operations, technology, finance and governance — and helps leaders decide with confidence before they commit.

Jarron Boulter

30 years · Corporate, Institutional & Liquidity

Founder | Banking Strategy | Transaction Banking | Technology-led Operations | Governance

Jarron Boulter

Jarron Boulter founded Whakaaro to help organisations make better banking decisions. In his view, banking is rarely just banking. It shapes how money moves, how systems connect, how teams operate, how risk is managed and how confidently leaders can make decisions.

Jarron’s strength lies in seeing the whole system — where banking meets business operations, technology, finance, governance and implementation — and understanding the consequences before a decision is made.

That perspective has been shaped from inside the banking system and beyond it. Jarron has held senior leadership roles with HSBC New Zealand and Bank of New Zealand, with experience across government banking, payments, liquidity, cash management, trade finance, foreign exchange and working capital. He also brings experience beyond banking in software, data and technology-led operations. Through his board role with Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua, Jarron contributes to investment decisions focused on creating intergenerational wealth, including the assessment of direct investment opportunities into companies and the oversight of property interests and managed funds.

Whakaaro exists for organisations facing banking decisions that are too complex, too costly or too important to treat as routine. Jarron helps leaders challenge assumptions, translate complexity, identify implementation risk and make decisions that hold up commercially, operationally and strategically.

For clients, the value is practical judgement at the moment it matters — before the tender is issued, the bank is selected, the contract is signed, the system is implemented, or the business settles for an arrangement that could have been better.

What Jarron brings

  • Understanding of how banks think, price, govern and implement
  • Ability to connect banking decisions to business operations, systems, risk and finance
  • Practical insight into tenders, bank selection, implementation risk and operating-model impacts
  • Independent judgement from the client’s side of the table
  • A governance lens grounded in stewardship, accountability, investment discipline and long-term outcomes

Outside of work

Outside of work, Jarron is practical by nature and spends much of his spare time on his lifestyle block. He is also learning the guitar and enjoys time with his whānau.
Cody Martin

20 years · Payments & Banking Infrastructure

Cody helps businesses optimise payment solutions, strengthen banking relationships and unlock commercial growth through practical, customer-focused strategies.

Cody Martin

20 years · Payments & Banking Infrastructure

Co-Founder | Business Development | Banking & Payments | Community Leader

Cody Martin

Cody Martin is an Auckland-based business development and payments professional with a strong background in banking, payments and strategic client relationships. He helps businesses optimise payment solutions, strengthen banking relationships and unlock commercial growth through practical, customer-focused strategies.

With over 20 years of banking experience, he has held roles within Global Payments Solutions at HSBC, driving new business and supporting businesses in navigating transactional banking structures, payments and operational banking frameworks.

Prior to HSBC, Cody held relationship management and leadership roles at ANZ, managing client portfolios, supporting credit processes and developing high-performing teams focused on client outcomes.

Known for his relationship-first approach, commercial acumen and passion for connecting people and opportunities, Cody works across corporate and community sectors to deliver meaningful long-term outcomes.

Where traditional consultants focus on strategy, Cody focuses on how it actually works — and how to fix it.

Expertise

  • Account and liquidity structures
  • Operational banking efficiency
  • Payments and services
  • Strategic sales and stakeholder management

What Cody brings

Cody’s strength lies in translating complexity into execution:

  • Breaking down fragmented account banking and payment structures
  • Identifying inefficiencies across receivables, payables and e-channel platforms
  • Implementing practical solutions that improve visibility, control and cost outcomes

Outside of work

Alongside his professional career, Cody serves as Chairman of Point Chevalier Rugby League Club, where he leads initiatives that strengthen community engagement, develop sustainable partnerships and support the long-term success of grassroots sports.
Elaine Matthews

30 years in Financial Services and Change

Elaine helps organisations turn banking change into practical, adopted ways of working. She connects strategy with delivery so new solutions are understood and embedded.

Elaine Matthews

30 years in Financial Services and Change

Co-Founder | Payments | Change Management | Transactional Banking

Elaine Matthews

Elaine Matthews brings deep experience across transactional banking and merchant solutions, built over a career spanning both international and New Zealand banking environments.

Based in Auckland, Elaine has held senior roles at the Bank of New Zealand. Across these roles, she has worked at the centre of how banks design, deliver and scale, and has led national teams of specialists from the business segment up to Institutional Banking.

Earlier in her career, Elaine spent nearly two decades with Lloyds TSB in the UK, developing strong foundations in change management, organisational leadership and transformation. She was later recruited into front-line banking environments to drive capability uplift and business performance.

Where many advisors focus only on structure, Elaine focuses on the execution of new ways of working and how solutions are adopted and embedded.

Senior roles at Bank of New Zealand

  • Head of Merchant Distribution
  • Senior Partner, Transactional and Trade
  • National Manager, Transactional Banking

What Elaine brings

Elaine’s strength sits in connecting strategy, capability and execution.

  • Strong change and stakeholder management across cross-functional disciplines and teams at all levels of the organisation
  • Focus on the execution of new ways of working and how solutions are adopted and embedded
  • A perspective that balances commercial outcomes, operational realities and sustainable change management for the people side of change

Outside of work

Outside of work Elaine is a Reiki healer and practitioner and is currently learning to play the piano.

20+ years · Software, Cloud & AI

Brendan turns ambitious ideas into practical digital solutions. He helps organisations simplify complex problems through thoughtful technology — systems people actually enjoy using.

Brendan Brink

20+ years · Software, Cloud & AI

Tech Lead | Technology Consultant | Solution Architecture | AI & Automation

Brendan Brink is a Tech Lead and Technology Consultant who enjoys turning ambitious ideas into practical digital solutions. With more than two decades of experience across software engineering, cloud platforms, AI, automation and solution architecture, he helps organisations simplify complex problems through thoughtful technology.

Brendan believes the best systems aren’t necessarily the most complicated — they’re the ones people actually enjoy using. His approach combines strategic thinking with hands-on technical leadership, working alongside clients from initial discovery through to delivery to build solutions that are scalable, sustainable and genuinely improve the way people work.

Expertise

  • Software engineering and solution architecture
  • Cloud platforms, AI and automation
  • Hands-on technical leadership from discovery through delivery
  • Scalable, sustainable systems that improve how people work

What Brendan brings

Brendan’s strength sits in combining strategic thinking with hands-on technical leadership:

  • Turning ambitious ideas into practical digital solutions
  • Simplifying complex problems without over-engineering
  • Working alongside clients from initial discovery through to delivery
  • Building systems that are scalable, sustainable and genuinely useful

Our values

What do we stand for?

What We Believe

  • Clarity is more valuable than complexity.
  • The best advice starts with listening.
  • Independence enables better decisions.
  • Curiosity uncovers opportunities others miss.
  • Action matters as much as insight.
  • Trust is earned through integrity and results.
  • Learning never ends.

Our Philosophy

We think deeply.

We take the time to understand your business, your challenges, and what success looks like before recommending a course of action to our clients.

We stay curious.

We ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and explore possibilities for our clients that others may overlook.

We act with purpose.

Every engagement should create tangible value. Advice only matters when it leads to meaningful outcomes.

We embrace different perspectives.

The strongest decisions emerge when experience, expertise, and diverse viewpoints come together.

We never stop learning.

Markets change, technology evolves, and businesses grow. We continuously learn so our clients stay ahead.

Customer Promises

  • We think deeply, so you can decide confidently.
  • We stay curious, so opportunities aren’t missed.
  • We act with purpose, so advice becomes outcomes.
  • We bring different perspectives, so decisions are stronger.
  • We keep learning, so our advice remains relevant.

Start a conversation

Tell us what is getting in the way with your banking setup. We will help you work out the right next step.

Contact us