Fintech shelves bank registration push to focus on home loans and One NZ tie-up.
New Zealand fintech Dosh has put its banking registration ambitions on hold, opting instead to focus on growing its home loan advice business and its partnership with telco One NZ, according to chief executive Shane Marsh (pictured).
Registration bid declined, reapplication on ice
Dosh began the banking registration process in July 2024 and lodged a full application in February 2025, but the Reserve Bank declined it in August 2025, saying the fintech's proposed model was not viable under current legislation. Dosh had pitched a digital, transaction-focused banking model similar to UK-based Monzo, deliberately avoiding credit products.
"We're New Zealand's Monzo," Marsh told interest.co.nz.
He said the model centred on providing an account, card, and potential savings offering without extending into lending.
"So, when I say credit, I mean raising customer deposits and lending them out. And the reason for that is that that's a different capability and different product set that requires credit risk management and building both sides of the balance sheet," Marsh said.
The Reserve Bank indicated it would consider a revised application that incorporated credit, but Marsh said Dosh chose to pause rather than immediately resubmit.
"The reason we didn't share it straight away is that when we got that feedback from the Reserve Bank, we effectively needed to decide: are we going to update our application and resubmit it, or are we going to pause?" he said. "And we decided, because there's some really exciting things happening with Dosh specifically in terms of our relationship with One NZ, that we would rather pause and focus on that in the meantime while we let the regulatory legislation changes take place."
Lower capital threshold looms under new regime
Those regulatory changes relate to the Deposit Takers Act, due to be fully implemented by December 2028, which will bring all banks and non-bank deposit takers under a single prudential framework.
Under the new regime, the minimum regulatory capital required for banking registration will drop from $30 million to $5 million, a change that could make reapplication considerably more accessible for smaller entrants such as Dosh.
Marsh said the fintech has not yet decided whether to reapply under current settings or wait for the lower threshold.
Home loan advice gains traction
Dosh has become licensed by the Financial Markets Authority to provide financial advice on home loans and already offers home loans through a partnership with Westpac established last year. That move positions Dosh within a fast-growing channel: on the most recent available figures, more than 164,000 New Zealanders received digital financial advice in the year to June 2025, nearly double the previous year, with residential mortgage lending the most common product category, according to the FMA's Digital Advice Provider Returns.
Marsh said the mortgage broking side of the business has proven popular with customers, though he declined to share specific figures.
"Home loans are a topic where people do want advice and support, and so we're really pleased to be able to go deeper with our customers and provide them a great offer at a time when users are struggling," he said.
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