Consumers in Australia and New Zealand will be able to quickly and easily find details on almost five million registered organisations names using their smartphone with the release of the NZAUConnect app.

A joint initiative of ASIC and the New Zealand Companies Office (NZCO), NZAUConnect brings together the business registers of both countries, allowing consumers to simultaneously search two million registered companies in Australia, and 550,000 in New Zealand. In addition, NZAUConnect provides the ability to search a further 1.7 million organisations on the Australian National Business Names Register.

Through NZAUConnect, consumers can use their smartphone or tablet to access information including a business’s registration status, registration number and principal place of business. Beyond enabling customers to search the Australian and New Zealand business registers at a time and place convenient to them, NZAUConnect enables consumers to save their most common searches, and share search results by email.

ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer said the introduction of NZAUConnect recognised the growing number of consumers using a smartphone or tablet to access the ASIC website and search ASIC's national company and business names registers.

‘In 2012, there were 29 million searches of ASIC's national registers, and while the bulk of these were completed through our website, we are seeing more customers using mobile devices to access our information,’ Mr Tanzer said.

‘Currently, around 10% of our customers are using a mobile device to view the ASIC website, with one in five of these people going on to search our National Business Names Register.

‘We expect these numbers will continue to grow strongly, and NZAUConnect is another step in making it simpler to search our registers when and where they please.’

Mr Tanzer said NZAUConnect was part of ASIC’s ongoing commitment to make it easier for customers to find information on registered businesses in Australia and New Zealand.

‘The introduction of NZAUConnect provides a platform for ASIC to continue exploring how we can use new technology to increase and improve the ways in which customers can access the information held in our registers,’ Mr Tanzer said.

‘Through making it easier, simpler and more convenient to find this information – including details about who stands behind a business, or the registration of it - we can help build confidence and certainty for customers on both sides of the Tasman.’ Mr Tanzer said ASIC and NZCO had a long history of collaboration, and shared a vision to help increase access to public information on companies ad registered organisations in both countries.

NZAUConnect – and through it, the work of ASIC and NZCO – demonstrates how we can work in partnership with our trans-Tasman counterparts, and presents an exciting foundation for future development,’ Mr Tanzer said.

NZAUConnect can be downloaded for free from App Store and Google Play by searching for ‘NZAUConnect’.