Media

Stuff - Data portability is coming to NZ – here’s what it means to you

July 13, 2021 - 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.”

Stuff - Anger as half of bank branches cut their hours and cash is increasingly difficult to use — Reserve Bank finds

July 7, 2021 - 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.

Stuff - ‘Consumer data right’ may make switching banks easier

July 6, 2021 - “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.”

Otago Daily Times - Disabled, older bank users allege neglect

July 6, 2021 - 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.

Rural News - Is that banker with a b or a w?

July 1, 2021 - “Covid-19 impacted many New Zealanders and our banks deferred or reduced loan repayments on $70 billion in business and household loans,” Beaumont says.

RNZ - Covid-19: Government business finance guarantee ending

June 28, 2021 - “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.”

Stuff - Big banks close more than 460 ATMs and bank branches over 18 months

June 27, 2021 - “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.”

NZ Herald - Under pressure from mayors, Finance Minister tried unsuccessfully to get banks to extend ‘hubs’

June 21, 2021 - 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”.

Interest.co.nz - RBNZ finally gets conditional agreement from the Finance Minister for debt serviceability tools, but the initial one it’s able to use is likely to be one pushed by the bank lobby group

June 17, 2021 - 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.

Stuff - Consumer NZ: Nearly one in five had a problem with their bank in past year

June 17, 2021 - “Frontline bank staff were inundated with calls from customers seeking assistance with lending and cashflow. And there has also been a huge increase in home loan applications in the last year. Given all this, it’s perhaps not surprising that some more customers had a less-than-perfect experience, and yet our research shows public attitudes to banking... Read more »