Media

Here you’ll find our media releases and opinions about banking in New Zealand, along with our media appearances.

Media Appearances

Stuff.co.nz - Banks cry foul over levy

- “The benefits to already responsible participants are not at all evident compared to the costs they are being asked to shoulder,” Hope said. While banks could pose a greater structural risk to the economy, Hope said the prudential risks of the sector were already being managed by the Reserve Bank. “At a structural level we’re talking about... Read more »
Media Appearances

NZ Herald - Banks pay big fees to fund FMA

- New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Kirk Hope said it had no issue with an industry contribution to FMA costs but the levy was disproportionate to the benefits received.
Media Releases

FMA levy misses the mark

- The New Zealand Bankers’ Association today expressed disappointment at the government’s announcement on the way it intends to levy the financial sector to fund the Financial Markets Authority. “Banks are well-regulated responsible lenders operating at the top end of the market. “The levies should better reflect the costs and benefits where they actually fall,” said... Read more »
Media Appearances

NZ Herald - Homeowners’ good news is savers’ loss

- While homeowners are jumping up and down with excitement over the low mortgage rates, savers aren’t having so much fun. “Balancing the needs and aspirations of borrowers and depositors, within the context of global uncertainty and a very competitive market, provides plenty of challenges for our banks,” Hope says.
Media Releases

Good public purse management keeps cost of credit down

- Prudent management of the public purse is essential to keeping down the cost of credit said the New Zealand Bankers’ Association today in response to Budget 2012. The Association supported moves to ensure borrowing costs for the government, householders and business owners do not increase unnecessarily. Initiatives that kept the NZ dollar at a realistic... Read more »
Media Releases

Flipside of interest rate cuts

- Recent cuts in fixed interest rates highlight the level of intense competition in the New Zealand banking sector. This is good news for borrowers, but will impact on returns for bank depositors. Interest rates are at historically low levels. This is due to a drop in wholesale interest rates as a result of ongoing uncertainty... Read more »
Media Appearances

Interest.co.nz - Reserve Bank needs to promote banking competition after big 4 made more profit in 4yrs after crisis than before it, Green Party says

- New Zealand Bankers Association CEO Kirk Hope told interest.co.nz that there was a high level of competition between New Zealand banks. Banks in New Zealand also contributed around NZ$6 billion to the economy each year via their own operating expenses – mostly wages to over 25,000 employees – and taxes paid in New Zealand.
Media Appearances

Stuff.co.nz - US taxman’s long arm threatens costly Kiwi headaches

- New Zealand financial institutions are fighting a United States tax that threatens to saddle them with millions of dollars in regulation costs and could end up costing Kiwi consumers. Outright opposition was not an option because non-compliant institutions would be slapped with hefty withholding penalties. It was “a very likely outcome” that those increased regulatory costs... Read more »