From legacy to growth: partnering to bring modern lending to New Zealanders
New Zealand’s trusted digital lender, SMB, migrated to Mambu in under 12 months to replace its in-house legacy system. The strategic move cut loan reconciliation time from days to minutes and successfully future-proofed the lender for multi-product expansion and new market entry.
- months to fully migrate to Mambu
- New Zealanders supported to date
- Trustpilot rating
SMB
About the customer
SMB (formerly Save My Bacon) is a 100% Kiwi-owned, Christchurch-based online personal lender. Launched in 2009 to provide a fairer alternative to traditional banks, SMB has approved more than 220,000 loans to date. The business is built on a simple vision: “a path to yes”—helping customers take control of their finances through fast, transparent lending designed for everyday New Zealanders.
As a digital-first operation, SMB offers unsecured personal loans with competitive rates starting from 12.95%—beating most major banks—paired with a 5–7 minute online application, real-time decisions powered by proprietary tech, same-day funding and no hidden fees.
With a 4.9-star Trustpilot rating from over 3,000 five-star reviews, SMB has cemented itself as a trusted consumer lender.
The challenge
Legacy systems blocking mainstream ambition
SMB had ambitious plans to challenge New Zealand's dominant banks by expanding into the mainstream personal lending market. But its 12-year-old in-house system was holding it back. The legacy platform had become fragile, slow to change, and difficult to scale. As SMB shifted from short-term credit to a broader multi-product strategy, the need for modernisation became clear.
With growth stalling, the team made a strategic decision: rebuild the technology stack from the ground up, starting with the core. The business needed a scalable, flexible architecture that could support automated decisioning and enable expansion into new geographies.
“The thing that attracted us to Mambu was its modular, open architecture—so we could plug in our own services. And the easy to use no-code interface. We needed a platform to help us move the business forward, without waiting on tech every time.”
- Paul Park, Director at SMB
The solution
A flexible, composable lending engine
In late 2024, SMB selected Mambu's composable lending engine for its modular, open architecture and no-code interface. This flexibility allowed SMB to integrate its proprietary systems easily, streamline operations, and future-proof its platform.
Despite having a small team, SMB brought together operational, technical and project management expertise and worked closely with Mambu’s experienced professional services team. The new tech stack included Mambu as the core banking engine, Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host SMB’s decisioning models, HubSpot as its CRM.
It also uses a third-party loan origination system and a local data partner to support automated migration testing.
The New Zealand challenger completed its full migration to Mambu’s API-first platform in under 12 months.
It went live in August 2025 with a full rebrand and Mambu powering all new loan originations. The first batch of customer account migrations was completed just six weeks later.
“Mambu has given us the flexibility to adjust pricing, manage change and build for the future—all without a heavy IT lift. Mambu underpins the accuracy, transparency and stability of our entire lending ecosystem.”
- Soumya Dasgupta, Chief Risk, Data and Analytics Officer at SMB
The result
Operational confidence and a future-proof platform for growth
Since modernising on Mambu, SMB has found renewed energy, similar to its startup phase, but now built on a stable, accurate, and scalable foundation. The biggest immediate impact was operational confidence. Reconciliations that previously took days now take minutes. The finance team now places greater reliance on the loan data and system reporting provided by Mambu.
The new platform provides immense flexibility to change product features, like launching new, highly competitive interest rates to drive volume. Support from the Mambu team was another highlight—knowledgeable, responsive, and solution-oriented.
Mambu’s core banking platform has future-proofed the business. SMB is now enabled to launch new products, such as auto loans, a revolving credit facility, and digital credit cards. The team has already launched risk-based pricing and is also exploring multi-account customer management. Expansion into Australia is next, with a model that allows rapid entry at minimal cost.
“Reconciliations that used to take days now take minutes. We finally have complete confidence in our numbers, and that alone has been a game-changer. But more importantly, this improved efficiency and confidence provides the foundation for more profound change. Eventually, we want to be part of our customers’ entire credit journey—from their first loan to their first mortgage.”
- Paul Park, Director at SMB
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