Feature comparison — NZ / AU digital banking platform¶
Document type: Competitive capability comparison Audience: Prospective bank clients — IT directors, product directors, procurement leads Date: 2026-04-18 Scope: Retail banking products and services, NZ and AU jurisdictions
Introduction¶
This comparison is prepared for technology and product leaders at small retail banks and building societies evaluating the platform as a replacement or greenfield core banking system. The purpose is to give a technically literate reader a clear picture of where this platform stands relative to what their customers currently experience at major banks, and relative to the neobanks that are competing for the same customer base.
The comparison covers two layers: end-customer capabilities (what a customer can do from the app and what products they can access), and bank-operational capabilities (what the licensed institution can configure, report on, and manage). Both layers matter in a procurement decision — end-customer feature parity determines whether a bank's customers will accept the platform, and operational capability determines whether the bank can run efficiently on it.
Big 4 scores reflect the best current digital offering of each institution. Community bank scores (Kiwibank, Bendigo) reflect their current digital apps. Neobank scores reflect current published capability for Up Bank and Revolut AU/NZ.
Feature comparison tables¶
Symbol key: ✓ full capability · ✓+ differentiator (this platform leads the market) · ~ partial or limited · ✗ not available
Column order: This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ
A. Core deposit products¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday / transaction account | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Savings (at-call) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| High-interest savings (bonus conditions) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Notice account | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Term deposit | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Youth / children's savings account | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Trust account | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Community / club / association account | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Member share account (building societies) | ✓+ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Notes: - Notice account (MOD-130, PRD-021) supports configurable notice periods (31, 60, 90 days), automatic release on expiry, and early withdrawal penalty calculation. - Youth account (PRD-022) includes guardian signatory model, restricted payment permissions, and age-based graduation at 18. - Member share account — including share capital ledger, dividend workflow, capital-gated redemptions, and member register — is a platform differentiator; no neobank and no big 4 bank offers their platform to external institutions with this capability intact.
B. Lending products¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal loan (unsecured) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| Revolving credit / overdraft facility | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| Linked transaction account overdraft | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Residential mortgage (variable rate) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Residential mortgage (fixed rate) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Construction loan / progressive drawdown | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Bridging finance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Loan restructure / variation workflow | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Financial hardship formal variation (CCCFA / NCCP) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Notes: - Residential mortgage (PRD-018) includes property security and LVR management (MOD-115), mortgage servicing with fixed-rate expiry workflow at 90/60/30 days (MOD-116), break cost calculation, and discharge processing. - Construction loan (MOD-121) uses milestone-certified tranche drawdowns — interest accrues only on drawn balance, not the full facility. - Hardship variation (MOD-139) tracks statutory deadlines: 10 working days under CCCFA (NZ) and 21 calendar days under NCCP (AU). Collections are automatically suspended during the assessment period.
C. Payments — domestic¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfers — BSB / account number (AU) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bank transfers — NZ interbank (Payments NZ A2A) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| BPAY bill payment (AU) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| BPAY biller registration (receive BPAY, AU) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| PayID / Osko — NPP overlay (AU) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| NZ faster payments / A2A | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| Standing orders | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ |
| Automatic payment rules (pay minimum, full balance) | ✓+ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Direct debit management (view, suspend, cancel) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Batch payment / payroll file upload (ABA / CSV) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Intra-bank instant transfer (no external rail) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Agency banking (Australia Post / NZ Post) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Notes: - Batch payment / payroll (MOD-135) supports ABA format (AU) and CSV (NZ/AU). Per-item AML screening runs on each record; quarantined items do not block the rest of the batch. - Agency banking (MOD-137) uses a file-based SFTP integration with Australia Post's daily batch file. Configurable for NZ Post where applicable. - Automatic payment rules are fully configurable — customers can set rules for minimum payment, full balance, fixed amount, or surplus savings. Big 4 equivalents are typically manual standing orders only. - Intra-bank transfers (MOD-141) are atomic double-entry book entries — no external rail, no cut-off window, settlement in under 5 seconds 24/7.
D. Payments — international¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NZ–AU cross-border transfer (native, no third party) | ✓+ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| International wire / SWIFT | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| Multi-currency wallet (NZ + AU native) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓+ |
| FX rate transparency (mid-market rate shown) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Rate lock on FX transfers | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ |
Notes: - The NZ–AU cross-border wallet (PRD-004) is a native bilateral product — both RBNZ and APRA regulatory engines run in the same platform instance. Big 4 banks process trans-Tasman transfers as international wires through their correspondent network. - International SWIFT is delivered via the sponsor bank (ADR-005), consistent with all neobank and challenger bank models. The platform routes, records, and tracks the instruction; scheme membership is held by the sponsor bank. The FX engine (MOD-025) and rate lock are platform-native. - Full multi-currency consumer product beyond NZ/AU (e.g. USD, EUR wallets) is a roadmap item. Revolut leads this category by design as a global product.
E. Cards¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physical debit card | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Virtual card (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Card freeze / unfreeze (instant, in-app) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spending controls (online / contactless / ATM toggles) | ✓+ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| In-app card number / CVV reveal (biometric gated) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instant transaction notification (real-time push) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ATM access (domestic network) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| International ATM access | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| In-app PIN set / change | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
Notes: - Physical card issuance (MOD-124) integrates with a card bureau API for personalisation, dispatch, and renewal. PIN management is HSM-backed — the PIN is never in plaintext at any point in the processing chain. - ATM integration (MOD-123) handles real-time authorisation (800ms SLA), pre-auth holds, dispense-failure reversals, and daily settlement reconciliation. - Spending controls expose all three toggles (online, contactless, ATM) independently from the app with immediate effect. Big 4 banks typically offer freeze/unfreeze but not granular channel-level toggles in the consumer app.
F. Digital experience¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital-only onboarding (no branch required) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Branch / teller channel (cash deposits, withdrawals) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Biometric authentication (Face ID, Touch ID, Android) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-time push notifications (transaction and alerts) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spending categorisation (automatic, ML-based) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Merchant enrichment (logos, clean names) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Savings pots / goals | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Round-up savings | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Financial automation rules engine | ✓+ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | ~ |
| Personalised product offers (consent-gated) | ✓+ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Spending insights and category breakdowns | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Account statements in-app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Document vault (in-app document storage) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Deposit guarantee coverage indicator (DCS / FCS) | ✓+ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ |
Notes: - Teller operations (MOD-129) provides a dedicated back-office teller role with cash deposit and withdrawal posting, AML threshold gate (NZD/AUD 10,000), cash drawer reconciliation, and supervisor override workflow. - The DCS/FCS coverage indicator (MOD-142) shows the customer their total protected deposits at this institution, including their apportioned share of joint accounts, against the scheme limit (NZD 100,000 / AUD 250,000). An alert is sent when the balance first exceeds the limit. - Real-time push notifications fire from the ledger event — not a polling job. Big 4 banks still run significant batch cycles; available balance lags are a function of core banking architecture, not product design. - The financial automation rules engine lets customers build conditional rules ("if balance exceeds $X, sweep surplus to savings"). No big 4 bank exposes this to consumers.
G. Customer service and conduct¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-app dispute lodgement | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complaint management (tracked, escalation workflow) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ |
| Financial hardship workflow (CCCFA / NCCP) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Power of attorney / third-party authority | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Joint account support (incl. DTA SDV apportionment) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Deceased estate management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Open banking / CDR data sharing (AU) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ |
Notes:
- Power of attorney (MOD-126) supports PoA, EPoA, and third-party authority. EPoA activation requires back-office review and supervisor sign-off. Weekly abuse monitoring runs for all active PoA accounts.
- Joint accounts (MOD-125) implement DTA 2023 Single Depositor View compliance — balance_share_pct per holder is maintained and queryable for SDV file generation. This is a prudential compliance requirement for NZ-licensed deposit takers, not just a product feature.
- Deceased estate management (MOD-138) includes 60-second account freeze on notification, automatic PoA revocation, LPR registration gated on probate/letters of administration, and a simplified pathway for small estates below the jurisdiction threshold.
- CDR/Open Banking: inbound and outbound data sharing for AU is implemented. The platform acts as both a Data Holder and Data Recipient under the CDR Rules.
H. Platform and operations (bank perspective)¶
| Feature | This platform | Big 4 NZ | Big 4 AU | Kiwibank / Bendigo | Up Bank | Revolut AU/NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-tenant SaaS (shared infrastructure, isolated data) | ✓+ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| White-label (bank's own brand, app store listing) | ✓+ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Configurable fee schedules (per institution) | ✓+ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Rate management UI with maker/checker (no deployment) | ✓ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Chart of accounts / GL configuration | ✓ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Data migration framework (AI-assisted consulting model) | ✓+ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Member equity module (mutuals and building societies) | ✓+ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| AGM / mutual governance workflow | ✓+ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Full regulatory reporting (RBNZ / APRA) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ |
| Capital ratio monitoring (LCR, NSFR, RWA, CET1) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| IFRS 9 / ECL provisioning | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AML monitoring and case management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ |
| Back-office customer 360 view | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Case and complaint management back-office | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Agent assist coaching panel | ✓+ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Product configuration panel (rates, products, fees) | ✓ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| ROTE per customer (live, front-line visible) | ✓+ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Next best product engine (real-time) | ✓+ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Usage-based billing to bank client | ✓+ | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Notes:
- Big 4 and community bank scores are n/a for platform/operational rows because those institutions are not SaaS providers — the comparison for these rows is between this platform and the build/licence costs a prospective client would face if they tried to replicate these capabilities themselves.
- Rate management UI (MOD-127) requires four-eyes (maker/checker) approval for every change. Unfavourable rate or fee changes are blocked from taking effect until MOD-063 confirms all affected customers have been notified within the required advance notice period.
- Chart of accounts (MOD-140) ships with a default chart pre-mapped to RBNZ BS2A and APRA ARS 720 classifications. Banks can extend and customise through the governed configuration interface without developer intervention.
- Data migration is an AI-assisted consulting engagement per client (see delivery/migration-playbook.md). The platform provides Migration API endpoints, reconciliation reporting, and a KYC import protocol. Each legacy system is different — no universal migration tool exists; AI tooling accelerates the source analysis and mapping phases.
- The AGM / mutual governance module (MOD-131) handles notice dispatch, proxy management, quorum calculation, voting, and annual report distribution. Active only when institution_type: mutual.
Key differentiators¶
Five areas where this platform leads the comparison set.
1. Integrated intelligence layer¶
Return on Tangible Equity (ROTE) is calculated per customer, in real time, and is visible to the back-office agent on the customer 360 screen. The next best product engine queries Snowflake on every agent session load and every customer app session. Real-time product eligibility is evaluated continuously as account balances, credit behaviour, and KYC status change — not in a nightly batch.
No big 4 bank has this wired to the front line. Their equivalent analytics run in data warehouses and surface in weekly reporting packs. The result is that this platform's agents know, at the point of a customer call, what product the customer is eligible for today and what the margin impact is of offering it.
2. SaaS configurability¶
The platform is multi-tenant from the architecture up, not retrofitted. Each licensed institution has isolated data, its own product configuration, its own fee schedules, its own regulatory reporting parameters, and its own white-labelled app. Rate changes, fee updates, and product launches are made through the configuration panel — no deployment required.
Big 4 banks do not offer their platform as a service. Neobanks (Up, Revolut) are single-tenant by design and are not available to license. This platform is the only option in the NZ/AU market that delivers big-bank infrastructure on a SaaS model at a cost structure accessible to institutions with $500M–$5B in assets.
3. NZ + AU native dual-jurisdiction¶
A single platform instance handles both NZ and AU regulatory requirements natively — separate regulatory engines, separate RBNZ and APRA reporting pipelines, separate product rules per jurisdiction, and dual AML/CFT compliance within the same codebase. A community bank that operates in both jurisdictions or wants to expand trans-Tasman can do so without running two separate core systems.
4. Real-time, no legacy batch processing¶
Customer balances are live. Available balance reflects every posted transaction immediately — no end-of-day batch. Domestic intra-bank transfers post atomically. Notifications fire from the ledger event. Big 4 banks still run significant batch cycles on their core ledgers; customers regularly see available balance lag behind transaction history. On this platform that does not exist.
5. Mutual and cooperative ready¶
Member share accounts, share capital ledger entries, dividend declaration and payment workflow, member register, capital-gated redemptions, AGM notice and voting workflow, and annual report distribution — these are built as first-class features. No neobank offers any of this. For building societies and credit unions, the choice in the NZ/AU market is between remaining on ageing legacy platforms and this platform.
This document is maintained in source/ and recompiled with the rest of the wiki. For current module build statuses, cross-reference the systems index.