Zagga business lending overview.

No, Zagga is not a registered New Zealand bank and is not supervised by the Reserve Bank of NZ under the Banking (Prudential Supervision) Act. Zagga operates a licensed peer-to-peer lending service under Part 6 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, regulated by the Financial Markets Authority. The licensed entity is registered on the FSPR as FSP393946 (previously trading as Lendme Limited, P2P licence granted on 11 May 2015).

A peer-to-peer lender in NZ is a regulated platform that matches borrowers with investors who collectively fund a loan, under a licence issued by the FMA under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. The platform performs credit assessment, security registration, and loan servicing; investors take exposure to the underlying loans. P2P lenders are not banks and do not take deposits.

Zagga lends against first registered mortgages over NZ residential, commercial, industrial property, or vacant land. Common use cases include investor refinances, commercial bridging, owner-occupier commercial purchases, and short-term funding ahead of a known exit such as a major-bank refinance or property sale. Zagga does not run unsecured working capital, asset finance, or invoice finance.

Each Zagga loan is held inside its own bare trust, with named investor beneficiaries assigned to that specific loan. There is no pooling across loans and no fund unit. The bare-trust model gives investors a direct legal interest in the named borrower, the underlying mortgage, and the related security. This is structurally different from a managed-investment-scheme or pooled-fund model.

The anchor security on every loan is a first registered mortgage over NZ property. Layered on top is a personal guarantee from the directors and a general security agreement (GSA) registered on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) under the Personal Property Securities Act 1999. The combination is intentionally conservative: a property anchor plus a personal recourse layer plus a registered business-asset interest.

Zagga sets a tailored rate after credit and security assessment. Indicative bands observable in the NZ non-bank first-mortgage market in 2026 sit roughly at 8% to 12% p.a. on residential first mortgages, 9% to 13% p.a. on commercial and industrial first mortgages, and 10% to 14% p.a. on vacant land. An establishment fee in the 1% to 2.5% range of the advance is typical. Actual pricing depends on the lender's assessment.

Zagga settlements typically run 2 to 5 weeks from initial enquiry to drawdown. The longest steps are the registered valuation by an approved valuer, the formal credit process, and investor subscription via the platform. Borrowers prioritising same-week settlement often choose a different non-bank lender; borrowers prioritising security cleanliness commonly accept the timeline.

Interest on a Zagga loan used wholly for business or income-producing purposes is generally deductible against business income for NZ tax purposes, subject to the accountant's confirmation on the specific business or investment position. The deductibility analysis depends on the borrower entity, the use of funds, and the broader IRD framework on interest deductibility.

A major-bank commercial mortgage is typically priced below Zagga on a like-for-like first-mortgage transaction, but the major-bank decision and settlement timeline is commonly 6 to 12 weeks. Zagga is typically faster (2 to 5 weeks), accepts a wider range of borrower profiles, but at indicative pricing above major-bank levels. Many borrowers use Zagga as a transitional non-bank funder ahead of a major-bank refinance.

Zagga lends against completed residential, commercial, industrial property and vacant land. Pure construction development with a complex multi-stage draw-down schedule is typically better aligned to NZ development specialists like Avanti Finance or Resimac NZ. A borrower with a development site plus a clean exit plan may still fit a Zagga vacant-land or transitional first-mortgage loan, depending on the structure.

On default, Zagga's primary remedy is enforcement of the first registered mortgage against the property security, alongside the personal guarantee against directors and the GSA registered on PPSR against the borrower entity. Persistent non-payment moves to formal default, and proceeds from the secured property are distributed to the named investor beneficiaries inside the bare trust net of enforcement and platform costs.

Zagga is a member of Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL), one of the four FMA-approved external dispute resolution schemes. A borrower or investor with an unresolved complaint can refer the matter to FSCL after first raising it with Zagga directly. Membership of an EDR scheme is a statutory requirement for licensed financial service providers in New Zealand.