The New Zealand Bankers’ Association is encouraging people to protect their personal information as Australasian Consumer Fraud Week kicks off today.

“Fraudsters are always looking for new ways to scam us and steal our money. Scammers use a range of ways to trick people into handing over personal information, usually by phone or email. Once they have that information, such as your account number, log-in details, or password, they can access your identity and your money. This kind of fraud is known as ‘phishing’ if the fraudster makes contact by email, ‘vishing’ if it’s by phone, or ‘smishing’ if it’s by text,” said New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Kirk Hope.

“Your bank will never ask you for your PINs and passwords. Anyone who asks for these will in all likelihood be trying to scam you.

“Scammers often pretend to be your bank, a government agent, a retailer or someone you trust.”

How to avoid these scams:

• Don’t give out account details over the phone unless you made the call and you trust that the number you called is genuine.
• Don’t reply to, click on any links, or open any files in spam emails. Don’t call any numbers in spam emails.

Spam emails are often disguised to look legitimate. If it doesn’t seem right, take care and double check first before handing over personal information. It’s always a good idea to check the email address against one you know to be legitimate.

“If you are the genuine victim of fraud it’s good to know that your bank will stand by you and reimburse any losses. That promise doesn’t override your responsibility to protect access to your bank accounts,” Hope added.

Kirk Hope talks to Susie Ferguson about new lending restirctions for Auckland porperty investors.

New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Kirk Hope said the new regulations would make borrowing more difficult for Auckland property investors. But they would have limited impact on prices. “The real issues driving housing affordability in Auckland are the lack of housing supply, and strong inward migration, not the availability of cheap credit.”

Banks consider how vulnerable money remitters are based on whether they are registered, accept cash deposits frequently or deposits with a high value, process transfers to or from high risk jurisdictions, aggregate bulk payments and thus remove the transparency on their clients, have little or no upper limits on the value or frequency of transactions, and have a comprehensive AML/CFT risk mitigation programme.

Chapman Tripp will join Russell McVeagh and Buddle Findlay as law firm affiliate members, NZBA chief executive Kirk Hope revealed last week.

“New Zealand is an importer of capital – it’s not a new thing, we’ve always been like that and we will probably have to be for some time. So this is going to tax that more: it does mean extra costs. And any extra costs means, potentially, increased lending costs for businesses and consumers.”

The New Zealand Bankers’ Association today announced that Chapman Tripp and Visa New Zealand have joined the Association as its latest affiliate members.

“We are pleased both Chapman Tripp and Visa have decided to formalise their relationship with the Association and are delighted to welcome them as affiliate members,” said New Zealand Bankers’ Association Chief Executive Kirk Hope.

Chapman Tripp Managing Partner Mark Reese said, “Chapman Tripp has a long-standing commitment to New Zealand’s banking industry and we are proud to be an affiliate member of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association. We look forward to working closely with NZBA and its other members to support New Zealand’s strong and stable banking system.”

Visa New Zealand and South Pacific Country Manager Caroline Ada said, “We are delighted to join NZBA as an affiliate member. Visa’s focus in New Zealand is on advancing digital payments to provide consumers with greater ease and convenience at the checkout, both in-store and online. Our ability to deliver on that means we must work across the industry, and strategic partnerships with organisations like NZBA are essential to that vision.”

In response to the LVR changes announced today by the Reserve Bank, the New Zealand Bankers’ Association said that banks will work to meet the new obligations but warns that demand side initiatives are only one part of the solution.

“We look forward to seeing more detail on the proposal and working with the Reserve Bank to help ensure the policy changes can be put in place and meet their aims,” said New Zealand Bankers’ Association Chief Executive Kirk Hope.

“Our members are committed to meeting their obligations as registered banks and will comply with any new lending requirements.

“It’s difficult to be too specific about exact implications at this stage, without having worked through the details. It is likely though that this will make borrowing tougher for residential property investors in the Auckland region.

“In particular we welcome the Reserve Bank’s decision to increase the existing speed limit for high LVR borrowing outside of Auckland from 10 to 15 percent. This is a positive move and recognises the very different housing market conditions outside of Auckland.

“It’s important to note though that macro-prudential measures such as those announced today are to ultimately going to be limited in their impact on the Auckland housing market.

“Credit growth is currently around 5 per cent, which is not high in comparison to pre GFC credit growth of around 16 to 18 percent. The real issues driving housing affordability in Auckland are the lack of housing supply, and strong inward migration, not the availability of cheap credit.

“We support sensible measures that help address the supply problem, and it’s important to realise that demand side initiatives can only play a limited role in addressing the underlying drivers of the Auckland housing market.

New Zealand Bankers’ Association boss Kirk Hope said Islamic mortgages were likely to be a niche product, and was not surprised banks had not yet taken an interest.