KB Kookmin Bank Auckland Branch today became a member of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association, bringing the total number of member banks to 18.

New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont says: “We are delighted to welcome Kookmin Bank to the Bankers’ Association. Joining NZBA shows the Korean bank’s commitment to New Zealand and our banking industry.”

KB Kookmin Bank Auckland Branch general manager Gung Hoe Gu says: “We are very proud to be a member of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association. We believe that we’ve made an important step in becoming fully integrated into the New Zealand banking system. We look forward to working together with other members to support our domestic banking community.

“Our core strengths are expertise, a broad customer base, wide distribution network and a strong brand, and we aim to deliver financial services that bring happiness and well-being to our customers and society.”

A subsidiary of Korea’s leading financial services provider KB Financial Group, KB Kookmin Bank Auckland Branch has been registered in New Zealand since 1997 and offers retail and corporate banking services to customers.

The New Zealand Bankers’ Association is the voice of the banking industry. It backs our banks to deliver for New Zealanders by shaping policy and telling the industry’s story. NZBA develops and communicates positions on non-competitive industry issues.

Other NZBA members are ANZ New Zealand, ASB Bank, Bank of China, Bank of New Zealand, China Construction Bank, Citi, The Co-operative Bank, Heartland Bank, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JPMorgan, Kiwibank, MUFG Bank, Rabobank New Zealand, SBS Bank, TSB Bank, and Westpac New Zealand.

Full membership of the Association is open to any bank registered under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. Affiliate membership is available to organisations that work with or support banks in New Zealand.

ENDS

New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said the current economic and regulatory environment certainly affected first-home buyers.

“Financial institutions are in contractual relationships with intermediaries,” the association wrote.  “Intermediaries are not their employees or contractors, and financial institutions do not have the ability to “manage” or “supervise” intermediaries outside of what is contractually agreed on a case-by-case basis.” The NZBA called for “monitoring”, rather than “managing” and “supervising”, intermediaries.

“While we agree with the government’s aim to protect vulnerable consumers from unscrupulous lenders, the one-size-fits-all approach for all lenders and all loan types means banks don’t have the same discretion or flexibility they used to.”

Beaumont said the one-size fits all approach for all lenders and all loan types meant the banks did not have the same discretion or flexibility as before.

MBIE (more…)

“We don’t think the tweaks published today will make a big difference for most borrowers. That’s because most of the existing requirements remain in place.”

“We don’t think the tweaks published today will make a big difference for most borrowers. That’s because most of the existing requirements remain in place, meaning customers will still have to provide detailed information about their spending, resulting in a more painstaking process and more loan applications being declined than before the December rule change.”

“Most of the existing requirements remain in place, meaning customers will still have to provide detailed information about their spending, resulting in a more painstaking process and more loan applications being declined than before the December rule change,” Beaumont said.

“The government’s rushed attempt to fix the problem hasn’t made things easier for consumers seeking credit. Instead, it’s raised hopes of a solution that hasn’t been delivered.”