As a result of a hui at Torere Marae on the 26th of November 1987, the iwi of Ngāi Tai agreed to establish a body to operate under the mana of the iwi to advance the wellbeing of the iwi, socially, economically and culturally, which includes the scope for historical Treaty settlement negotiations with the Crown.
Registered as a Charitable Trust in October 1988 and then registered with the Charities Commission in 2008 and re-registered again in 2023, Ngaitai Iwi Authority is administered by the Board of Trustees who are accountable to Ngai Tai Iwi. There are seven Trustees on the Board. The Board exercises strategic Governance over the Ngaitai lwi Authority and its asset holding companies and subsidiaries.