New bank contender Debut champions niche over scale

Co-founder Sulabh Sharma said being a licensed bank will allow the company to release the products they want, how they want them. (Image: BusinessDesk)

Ben Moore

Wed, 04 Sep 2024

A New Zealand financial technology startup is preparing to submit an application to the Reserve Bank for a bank licence, aiming to become a fully digital bank.Debut was founded by two New Zealanders, Sulabh Sharma and Sheenu Chawla, who also own Sush Labs, the company that built Kiwibank’s banking app.The pair were in the UK in the late 2010s when Monzo and Starling, two UK digital banks, were being launched.A digital bank, also called a neobank, is a registered bank with no physical branches and usually limited phone support that offers...

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