About Squirrel
We've been mortgage broking for 16 years, and over time we've added other carefully chosen products to our offering like saving and investing.
We're a company who love what we do. Think you've got what it takes to join us? Check out what it's like to work for Squirrel.
Squirrel in numbers
Instead of boring you with heaps of blurb about how great we are, we’ve put together a bunch of facts that tell the story in (hopefully) a more interesting, and Squirrel way.
16
Years in the business
We opened our doors in 2008!
3
Locations
But thanks to technology we're everywhere!
1
Champion touch rugby team
Who won their competition (again) this year 💪
76,000+
Kiwi we’ve helped with their mortgage
NZ’s most trusted independent mortgage broker
6.19% p.a
Average return for term investments
During the last month
$22+ Billion
Of mortgage lending overseen
Yes, that’s billion with a “B”
$1+ Billion
Total lending from our own products
And there’s plenty more where that came from!
1
NZ Top Brokerage award for 2025
Rumour has it, we're the best in the business
100%
Principal and interest paid back to investors
We put our money where our mouth is
$60m
Interest paid to investors
And counting
257
Squirrel shareholders
And we love every last one
5,000+
Peer-to-peer lenders
Every one of them, lending to someone just like you
Introducing the team at the helm
Time flies when you’re battling to make the industry fairer…
Let's take a look at the history of Squirrel
Squirrel is born
On 29th January, John Bolton (aka JB) founded Squirrel during the midst of the GFC. Never one to shy away from a challenge, JB was sick of seeing the same old issues coming up again and again for home buyers. Nobody was in their corner, everyone was working on behalf of the seller.
JB felt it was time to even up the playing field so that's what he did with Squirrel.
Squirrel is all about the buyer.
An award winning brokerage
Squirrel won the first award for mortgage broking from the NZ Financial Services Group and continually won this award for 9 consecutive years after.
The first employee
Our longest serving team member (other than JB) Eleanor began working for Squirrel. Still going strong today!
Steady growth
Squirrel quietly acquires more mortgage advisers and slowly grows their market share in Auckland.
Expanding in Auckland
Squirrel Mortgages launches a specialist team to service the Indian communities in Auckland and updates its logo.
Another specialist team
We expand to include another specialist team to service the Chinese communities of Auckland.
Upgrading the brand
Squirrel gets a facelift in the form of a new logo and office space on College Hill.
Squirrel's P2P platform launches
Squirrel becomes the first NZ P2P lender to be solely funded by Kiwi retail investors, lending to Kiwi borrowers. No institutions involved.
Also the first to use a reserve fund to cover any losses so investors get their monthly payments even if one of our borrowers misses theirs.
Squirrel takes all 27 employees to the Gold Coast, our first conference. What goes on tour, stays on tour.
Our first acquisition
Squirrel was the first to offer a secondary market to their P2P investors, offering them a way to sell their investments in the marketplace allowing them to get out early if they need to.
Squirrel Mortgages acquires Aspire Advisers, almost doubling the size of the company overnight.
Big milestones
Squirrel Mortgages hits over $4 billion written in home loans. Squirrel Money hits it's first million dollar month in lending.
A decade of Squirrel
Squirrel's 10 year anniversary. Squirrel Mortgages and Squirrel Money sister companies join forces and become one, complete with a new brand look and feel. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!
Squirrel becomes a mortgage lender
Squirrel launches our own peer-to-peer mortgage products in March to help clients that don't quite fit inside the bank box, allowing the P2P lending platform to rapidly grow.
Making lemonade
The year of the pandemic. Squirrel continued to grow, despite a year of uncertainty and turmoil we stayed true to our purpose.
Growing our staff by around 50% and doubling our P2P lending, we launched some exciting new products that benefited both investors and borrowers alike including term investments into residential mortgages and bridging finance.
Launchpad kicks off
Squirrel launches our low-deposit home loan, a uniquely structured loan created by us to give first home buyers a leg up onto the property ladder faster. Investors get a piece of the pie too, because they get to earn returns by funding part of the deposit portion of the loan. Win win.
The torch is passed
It's the end of an era. JB passes the CEO torch to David Cunningham. JB hasn't left the building though and is still found working up the next big idea, between brokering deals.
Speaking of buildings, our College Hill crew joins HQ in the newly renovated mega office on Sale St. Let the good times roll!
Squirrel & Wellington's own iconic advisory business, The Home Loan Shop, merge. Like tomato sauce and a saussie sizzle, we're better together.
The On-Call Account gets interesting
The year starts off with a bang as we introduce our very own high interest on-call account. This was a natural next step with our investment platform having already laid the foundations. It's just another way we're putting more money into Kiwi pockets.
Our biggest one yet
Squirrel expands into Christchurch and the South Island with the acquisition of NZ Mortgages. Oh and we quietly became the 5th biggest originator of home loans in NZ. What a year!
What's next?
We're still working on it… but one thing's for sure. It's going to be another big year!
Don’t just take our word for it
Troy
New Zealand
My partner and I were looking to purchase our first home, we had no idea what we were doing and the amount of information we were accessing seemed very overwhelming. We made some enquiries about brokers, made an website and were put in touch with Basil. He simplified the process right down for us, was available every step of the way and after a number of false starts, we moved into our new home yesterday. Couldn't recommend these guys more. Especially Basil, who I am now referring to anyone who I know is looking to start their home ownership journey.
Jonathan
New Zealand
Our advisor was knowledgeable and good at explaining the options. At what can be a quite a stressful time (making a property transaction), he brought patience and clarity which helped us achieve what we wanted to achieve. We are very happy with the result. Thanks Squirrel!
Andrew
New Zealand
Kat was amazing at working with us through a very challenging process due to health issues of one of the applicants.
Aaron Hooper
New Zealand
Brilliant company to deal with, thank you.