- One in every two to three first-home buyers could be shut out of the housing market as the Reserve Bank forges ahead with controversial restrictions on home loans. Bankers’ Association chief executive Kirk Hope said the rules would have “perverse consequences” and lock buyers out of the market.
- The Bankers’ Association is seeking to create a database of house insurance contracts to allow mortgage lenders to keep tabs on whether borrowers are keeping their homes adequately insured.
- Hope said there was a risk that in capping the amount of lending done over the 80 per cent threshold it could spark third tier lenders to emerge and lend money on an unsecured basis.
- Kirk Hope was appointed the head of lobby group the Bankers’ Association last year, so you’d expect him to have a better grip on his finances than the average New Zealander.
- “One relevant factor in this discussion is whether it’s justifiable for farms as businesses to be treated differently from other businesses that find themselves in financial difficulty. Any proposal for a special mediation service for farms would need to provide a good rationale for establishing a sector-specific service,” Kirk Hope said.
- New Zealand’s banking sector has spent roughly $90 million getting ready for a new anti-money laundering and terrorism financing law which kicks in at the end of next month.
- Bankers Association chief executive Kirk Hope said banks could live with a differential for first-home buyers, but any restrictions on bank lending might simply drive home buyers to more risky unregulated lenders.
