New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said: “Branches are closing in some regional communities due to lack of demand. These changes are occurring because customers are banking differently – they can go online, call their bank or use an app.”
“There’s no single solution to our current housing affordability issues, which is a complex challenge,” said Beaumont. “Potential responses include addressing both supply and demand issues. Today’s announcement is more about managing the demand side, and what mechanisms the Reserve Bank has available to do that.
Banks welcome today’s announcement that the Reserve Bank will consider the impact of its monetary and financial policy decisions on the housing market.
“Banks support today’s announcement and are keen to be involved in discussions around how to tackle the current housing situation,” says New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont.
“There’s no single solution to our current housing affordability issues, which is a complex challenge. Potential responses include addressing both supply and demand issues.
“Today’s announcement is more about managing the demand side, and what mechanisms the Reserve Bank has available to do that. That will likely have implications for bank lending. Our banks will continue to be responsible lenders and welcome the opportunity to be part of any further solutions,” says Beaumont.
ENDS
Our banks played a role as part of the ‘team of five million’ coordinated response. Working with the government, the Reserve Bank and credit reporting agencies, banks moved quickly to offer loan repayment deferrals and reduced loan repayments for customers financially affected by the pandemic. That provided immediate relief for many. Around $70 billion in household and business loans had all repayments deferred or reduced. Most of those loans are now back to normal repayments, thanks to the ‘NZ Inc’ response to the pandemic and consequently better-than-expected economic conditions.
Financial Markets Authority
NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont said the hub trials will run for 12 months and “Only then will we be able to assess if the communities where the trials are based found them useful, and whether they could form the basis of banking services in places where branches are no longer viable due to lack of customer demand.”
New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said customers now preferred other ways of banking and the branches were no longer viable, “In some cases there may be fewer than 10 customers a day in these branches. That’s simply unsustainable.”
Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said fewer than1 per cent of customers used cheques and the move to digital services was driven by customer preference.
Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said on Monday that it understood why the Reserve Bank had been unable to say much at that time.
Roger Beaumont, chief executive of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association, said it was an ongoing challenge and banks recognised it was tough for older customers in particular, who had larger amounts of money in the bank and depended on the income it earned, to subsidise their living costs.