Will it be easy for foreigners eg tourists or international students to sign up or will it be limited to locals only?
I managed to sign up to some local payment apps in Asia and they didn’t require any ID for a low-limit account, although I recognize there could be AML/KYC concerns in NZ.
What Debut is building is common overseas, such as wise, Revolut, Chime, Venmo and other similar banking type apps, which tourist will probably already have duty open banking widely adopted. There’s a post on this topic on in the spotlight on the very last page, where Derrick talks about these type of apps.
I’ve had a look at some of these apps myself, especially with the use of overseas purchases on me, trying to get a better exchange deal, and more accessible than our banks apps. But the ones I checked out required identity verification, and are restricted to certain countries.
From an AML and compliance perspective, Debut needs some way to verify that people are living in New Zealand. However, we understand that people may live in New Zealand for short periods, e.g., those on Working Holiday Visas. Of course, these folks would love to experience Debut, too, so we’ll need to make sure they can sign up while continuing to meet any compliance requirements. 