Insolvency Register NZ

The Insolvency Register is administered by the Insolvency and Trustee Service, which is part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). It records personal insolvency proceedings — formal processes that apply to individuals who cannot pay their debts.

It is separate from the Companies Register. Company liquidations and receiverships are recorded against the company on the Companies Register, while personal insolvency proceedings against individuals appear on the Insolvency Register.

The register can include records such as:

• Bankruptcy — a formal insolvency process for individuals unable to pay their debts
• No Asset Procedure — a process for people with low debts and no realisable assets
• Summary Instalment Order — an arrangement to repay debts by instalments over time

Each record typically shows the type of proceeding, key dates and the current state of the proceeding, such as whether the person has been discharged.

Insolvency Register searches are based on names, and names alone cannot prove identity. The register does not provide a unique person identifier that confirms two records belong to the same individual, or that a record belongs to a particular person you are dealing with.

This means a name match is only ever an unverified indication. Two people can share the same name, and one person can appear under variations of their name. When our reports include personal insolvency name-search results, they are always labelled as unverified name matches, and the report explains that no shared person identifier confirms the match.

Publication rules limit how long some personal insolvency information remains publicly available. After certain periods — measured from dates such as a discharge or completion date — some records are no longer published. Records can also be affected by annulments or removals.

Our reports respect these publication rules. Information that is no longer permitted to be published is withheld, and reports describe results as displayable records rather than claiming to show everything that has ever been recorded.

If you are checking a company rather than a person, the relevant information is the company's status on the Companies Register — for example In Liquidation or In Receivership. Our guide to companies in liquidation explains what those statuses mean and how to check them.