Author: Philip vanDyk

Clark said banks weren’t adhering to responsible lending rules before new legislation came in last year.  The Bankers Association’s Roger Beaumont told Heather du Plessis-Allan Clark’s not correct.

“We’ve made several submissions on the CCCFA law change and new regulations since 2018. In our submissions we’ve set out our concerns all along the way. The investigation might be able to clarify some of those concerns and hopefully identify some useful solutions.”

“The suggestion that banks were not complying with their responsible lending obligations before the latest CCCFA changes comes as a surprise. Banks are simply complying with the new rules as they are written.

“Banks are in the business of lending, it’s fundamental to what they do, they want to be able to lend to customers but they’re not going to do that if it risks breaching their regulatory obligations because the consequences for that are really serious.”

“The law change has made banks’ ability to lend less flexible,” says New Zealand Bankers Association CEO Roger Beaumont.

New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont​ said bank terms and conditions generally include not sharing your bank account access details with anyone else.

Some advisers have also complained of too many different systems from different banks, meaning the multiple changes come in many different forms, depending on which bank they are dealing with. But the NZBA says there cannot be a uniform approach across the banking sector for competition reasons.

Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said he welcomed the Government’s decision to look into the “unintended consequences” the CCCFA amendments were having on mortgage lending. “Banks are caught between meeting customer needs and ensuring they comply with the law,” he said.

The New Zealand Bankers’ Association warned the Government as far back as 2019 that changes to lending laws could cut people off from mortgages they could likely afford to pay.

“We welcome any investigation into the unintended consequences of the new lending rules. In our submissions on the CCCFA law change and new regulations we’ve set out our concerns all along the way.”