Author: Philip vanDyk

Bankers’ Association spokesman Philip van Dyk told Stuff last week that it supported the initiative “in principle” before adding that “research shows that few people think sharing your personal information with third parties is a good idea.”

The closure of branches sparked a hearing in Parliament in which the Bankers’ Association defended the closures saying they only reflected customer demand digital banking.

“Research shows that few people think sharing your personal information with third parties is a good idea. Third parties seeking to use consumers’ personal data will need to show they have proper safeguards in place.”

Less than 1% of payments were made by cheque and options for former cheque users included direct debit, automatic payments and phoning a bank, he said.

“Covid-19 impacted many New Zealanders and our banks deferred or reduced loan repayments on $70 billion in business and household loans,” Beaumont says.

“Depending on the customer’s circumstances, banks also offered to reduce loan repayments, temporarily deferred all repayments, extended the term of loans, consolidated loans, and provided access to short-term funding.”

“I heard a story a couple of weeks ago from one of our major banks where one of their branches was averaging six transactions a week. That’s not six transactions an hour or six transactions a day. Six transactions a week.”

NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont said Covid-19 had a significant impact on how customers used bank branches, the banking hubs and the commitments made by the six participating banks “none of which could have been foreseen when the trial was announced”.

This is the alternative to a DTI ratio tool suggested by bank lobby group the New Zealand Bankers’ Association in its response to the 2017 consultation. NZBA argued the evidence linking high-DTI loans and loan defaults was weak, with job loss having the most significant impact on the likelihood of loan default.