OPINION
The face of “banking” in New Zealand is changing, with a growing number of digital accounts available from disruptors. Most have a Mastercard or other debit card attached and some customers are using them for their day-to-day “banking”.
The offerings currently range from Revolut, which is said to have more than 30 million users worldwide, to local start-ups such as SquareOne, which offers an account designed to teach children financial literacy. Other names consumers will start to hear more about include Savvy, Dosh, and Making Debut Bank.
The selling point of these disruptors is that they make it super-easy to open an account, and provide what traditional banks don’t offer, do badly, or do rarely. That might include multiple sub-accounts, built-in budgeting, paying competitive interest on every dollar, or using AI and machine learning to make smart recommendations.
The two biggies from overseas that have launched here are Wise and Revolut. Both offer multi-currency accounts, with debit cards attached, better exchange rates than banks, and low-cost ATM withdrawals overseas for travellers. Neither Wise nor Revolut pay interest on balances nor offer overdrafts. Revolut, which launched here last year, can be used much like a bank account and has budgeting features, goal-setting and AI analytics built in and a few other clever features.
