RBNZ squashes fintech Dosh’s bid to become a bank
Fintech Dosh’s bid to become a bank swiped left by the Reserve Bank blocks banking innovation.
Friday, February 20th 2026, 9:49AM 
2 Comments
by Sally Lindsay
Online mortgage fintech Dosh co-founder Shane Marsh, told MPs at a Parliamentary banking inquiry follow-up yesterday the central bank had decided it did not meet the legal definition of a bank.
Marsh says the Reserve Bank decided that to be considered a bank, an organisation must make loans as well as offering other banking services.
“We see that that is a relatively narrow and restrictive interpretation of the legislation,” Marsh told MPs, who appeared to be surprised at the decision.
Dosh offers Westpac online home loans with a new addition of One NZ $1,700 reward dollars on settlement. One phone dollar equals one real dollar off the price of a new interest-free phone.
The fintech does not offer mortgage advice and has passed on some of the bank commission it earns to clients who settle loans.
Some advisers have been vocal about this, claiming it can lead to financial decisions that are not good for clients in the long-term. And if there is a proliferation of home loan fintechs offering forms that can be filled in within 15 minutes, with a decision provided within another few minutes, it will eventually decimate their businesses.
Because the home loans Dosh sells are Westpac loans and although it provides savings and transaction accounts, the Reserve Bank did not accept that qualified the fintech as a bank.
Marsh says the Reserve Bank’s definition of a bank is out of step with other countries where there is a recognition that digital banks developed in stages, often starting with deposit and transaction services and later moving into lending.
“Our approach has always been to look at what's working offshore, and how do we bring that to New Zealand to offer better value in a market that, to be honest, has fallen behind, what we're seeing being offered around the world,” he says.
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“Dosh offers Westpac online home loans with a new addition of One NZ $1,700 reward dollars on settlement. One phone dollar equals one real dollar off the price of a new interest-free phone.”
“The fintech does not offer mortgage advice and has passed on some of the bank commission it earns to clients who settle loans.”
Not only are Dosh customers not been provided with any financial advice whatsoever regarding their home loan Dosh is now throwing a new phone at them + Westpac is paying the customer a trail commission payment as long as their loan remains at Westpac.
This kind of nefarious behaviour between a main bank and Fintech to essentially "bribe" consumers to disregard mortgage advice on the biggest financial commitment most will ever have in their lifetime is appalling.
This is an especially poor look for the NZ financial services industry after all the regulatory changes that have been made to benefit consumers when they require a home loan. The bank in question has a home loan policy significantly out of step when its competitors i.e. an inferior extra repayment policy on fixed rate loans.
Westpac doesn’t want to pay trail commission to mortgage advisers now but they seemingly have no issue paying it to Dosh customers if it means they get a new home loan on their books, and of course they don’t need to worry about bringing their own policy in line with the other banks which makes them more money.
What a great industry we work in nowadays when the above arrangement is allowed to continue uninterrupted. Our politicians and regulators in Wellington clearly have their eyes wide shut.