Why New Zealand’s Debut Bank Hits Different
It’s time for a new kind of bank ⌚️
Banking is an industry steeped in tradition and most of the established players in New Zealand have dominated the market for decades. However, along with changes in the tech landscape, we’ve seen a new breed of banks emerge overseas, challenging the status quo and proving that there is more than one way to design a banking service and many more ways to improve the overall experience and benefit for customers.
What sets Debut apart is the community-led approach. From the very beginning, Debut has involved users at every step of the process, from naming the bank to designing the payment cards, because they believe that customers should have a voice.
Built by Kiwis, for Kiwis 🥝
It may sound a bit lofty, but Debut, is not just building a bank; in fact it’s building a community of people who share their vision for a better banking experience. Debut wants customers to feel empowered and involved, and they’re continually demonstrating their commitment to that goal by asking for and listening to customer feedback and incorporating it into their banking product.
At its inception, Co-Founders Sheenu Chawla and Sulabh Sharma started by conducting a poll to decide on a name. Over 100 people participated, and the final result was Debut.
We wanted to make sure that our brand resonated with our users, and we’re happy to have found a name that represents the emergence of something new, whether it’s a different way of doing things or someone taking control of their finances for the first time.
That’s not the only way Debut is working with the community. The banking start-up is now running a community-led competition to design the look of their new payment cards. The competition is open to anyone and will be voted on by the community. Debut is looking to capture a unique perspective of New Zealand that feels home-grown. The response so far has been fantastic, with some striking designs and ideas submitted already.
It’s important to the team that Debut can talk openly about features and regularly prompts community members to share their thoughts. Debut’s roadmap will always be public, so that customers can participate in the process and see how ideas graduate from open discussion to investigation, to development and testing. According to Debut, transparency and collaboration are key to building a bank that truly serves its users.
People. Not profits. 💚
Debut is on a mission is to put one billion dollars back into Kiwi pockets.
Their focus is on people, not profits. Debut is a human-first, down-to-earth, weird in a good way, clever bank that’s always there when you need it, and offers the very best services and benefits around. Some of Debut’s strategies to achieve this mission include keeping costs down, delivering high value and keeping profits in New Zealand.
The anti-bank 🚫👔
With Debut’s untraditional approach and strong customer focus, there’s also an opportunity to refocus what a bank looks like and acts like. Stuffy, corporate banking is so passé and the team try not to take themselves too seriously either.. Debut doesn’t do suit and tie — unless you really want to of course. T-shirts, hoodies and trainers are warmly encouraged. Building anything new can be a tremendous undertaking, so the Debut team works hard to make sure that they also inject a lot of fun and playfulness into the brand and how it communicates with the community.
If Debut, as a modern bank, is built around the idea of providing equal access to tools to help Kiwis sort, understand, budget and grow their money effortlessly, that simplicity, fun and non-hierarchical sentiment is reflected through their actions. Customers shouldn’t have to make large investments or to be “good at stocks” to use it and get benefits from it.
Taking a page from Wellywood ✨🎭🍿
New Zealand is famous for many things, but also for being the backdrop to hundreds of well-known movies and TV series. As a nation, Aotearoa is a big supporter of the arts and culture and so is Debut. Kiwi entertainment is often playful in a quirky kind of way that reveals our own humanity while also celebrating the things that make us unique and interesting.
Playing on the name, Debut, the company has had quite a bit of fun with naming conventions and small details of the brand. Things like, “Coming Soon,” and “A Behind the Scenes Look” work well. Ultimately, Debut can be seen as an “independent bank” that’s boldly exploring themes and ideas the mainstream or “big budget banks” have long avoided.
Join the community 👋 🤩
If you want better from your bank and you want to be part of something new and exciting, join the waitlist to follow along with Making Debut Bank or join the conversation Backstage, Debut’s user community.
Please note, Debut is not a registered bank under the Banking (Prudential Supervision) Act. This is about our future intentions. Investments with us are not supervised currently by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
