- “It shows that many people took advantage of interest rates when they were at historic lows. They likely retained their repayments at the same level as before, or increased them, to help repay their loans faster and save on the overall loan cost. It also means that nearly half the people with home loans had... Read more »
- The NZBA figures showed that there are nearly 1.26 million home loans across 1.09 million customers. The average value of all home loans is $316,019. Of the 45,628 new home loans opened in the last six months of 2022, 26.1% were issued to first home buyers.
- New Zealand Banking Association Te Rangapū Pēke chief executive Roger Beaumont said banks were working to address financial inclusion issues, “which often needs to be balanced with the need to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, including things like anti-money laundering law”.
- But the New Zealand Banking Association has said banks need time to build quality products for consumers, and were already inundated with regulation demands.
- NZBA’s chief executive Roger Beaumont, asked for a response to the Government’s latest repair effort, said the tweaks to the CCCFA regulations “still mean affordability assessments are needed for all types of lending and borrowers. This also means banks no longer have the discretion or flexibility to help customers in need, for example in cases... Read more »
- The NZ Banking Association also questioned whether OBR would work, saying it is unique to NZ and that there are no examples of it working anywhere, with or without a deposit guarantee scheme.
- “Last year banks made a net contribution to our economy of $1.92bn. They spent $9.1bn running their businesses and paying tax in New Zealand, compared to combined profits of $7.18bn,” Beaumont said.
- Beaumont says that recent changes to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, which require the same affordability assessments for all borrowers, mean that banks no longer have the discretion and flexibility to help customers in emergencies or cases of economic harm.
- “If you want a new mortgage, banks do want to see that history of behaviour and activity. But that’s a good example of where open banking in play will make that analysis by a competitor bank a whole lot easier. Because the data exchange will be a whole lot simpler than filling out a whole... Read more »
- In its submission on the proposed regulation, the NZ Bankers Association said all BNPL inquiries should have to comply with the credit law’s affordability principle. “There is no clear justification for treating BNPL contracts differently to other consumer credit contracts.”
