Commerce Commission opens banking competition probe
The Commerce Commission says it has now opened a market study into competition in the retail banking industry, and the result could be anything from a “clean bill of health” to recommendations for change to enhance competition.
On Tuesday, the Government announced it was ordering the commission to probe competition in retail banking following months of mounting anger over high bank profits even as households struggled with a cost of living crisis.
The market study would examine how well competition was working and consider options for enhancing competition for the long-term benefit of households, said Commerce Commission chairperson John Small.
Yawn, Grant Robertson has already killed off any real reform with these immediate comments…
Banking sector inquiry: Government has no immediate plans to inject more capital into Kiwibank
The Government has no immediate plans to inject capital into state-owned Kiwibank to make it more competitive with the big four Australian-owned banks.
…FFS – why even bother now he’s already strangled off the best option? This is more hui no do-ey to look like Labour might challenge the interests of the banks as they continue to make obscene profits!
Another Working Group where the real reforms necessary are always killed off by the elite vested interests, just like the Petrol price working group, just like the Supermarket working group, hell even the Royal Commission into historic abuse by the State seems to be ignored with news two staff are caught abusing this week!
You know the 1% are nervous about their money when a Government move launches a tsunami of negative critiques.
When rich white men be shrill, you should take note…
Can Kiwibank be brought back from the dead?
Fears Government plan could turn Kiwibank into a ‘local zombie bank’
Opinion: Government ideology putting money in the bank
…goodness aren’t they frightened by the Government stepping in and backing Kiwibank to the hilt?
They should be frightened.
We need a bank for our own economic sovereignty, we are already molested and damaged by the big Aussie Banks who are reaping billions in monopoly rentals from NZ.
What these shrill rich white man voices all tsk tsking about a New Zealand owned Bank fear is that the sleepy hobbits of muddle NuZilind might wake up and demand some more economic sovereignty and focus on the exceptional greed of the Australian Banks.
This country is built economically upon stealing Māori land and never paying it back, exploitation of migrant workers to ensure a low wage de-unionised economy and the criss-crossing old boys network of monopolies and duopolies that dominate NZ industry.
Normally this crony capitalism goes unnoticed because everyone is benefitting, but with Covid killing free market capitalism and the climate crisis interrupting the economy, people are stressed out and frightened and feeling poorer.
Suddenly the exploitative nature of NZs under regulated free market is under scrutiny like never before.
Why are we paying international prices for Dairy that is produced in this country using a monopoly?
Why are the Supermarket Duopolies killing us on food prices as food inflation explodes?
Why has the Medical Cannabis oligarchy market failed?
Why did the Gib board market fail?
And why the fuck are the Banks taking billions in profits while we suffer?
It’s time the Government had the balls to do what it’s supposed to fucking do!
REGULATE CAPITALISM!
The great jackboot of the State is constantly on the throats of the little people and the taxation yoke is pulled by them when the jackboot of the State should be on the throats of the powerful and rich with the taxation yoke lifted from workers onto corporates!
We need to be kinder to individuals and crueller to corporations!
What these shrill rich man voices screaming about Kiwibank want to avoid is any examination of how the Banks fuck us.
Yes Government should buy and own and back Kiwibank and here is a list of other things that should be done to ensure NZs economic sovereignty in an age of geopolitical shockwaves which will demand more local infrastructure be it energy, pharmaceuticals, an expanded military, more manufacturing AND our own Bank!
- Take the Government contract for its banking needs from Westpac and give it to Kiwibank to boost our own.
- Open a KiwiBank branch in every town in NZ alongside other public services and use it as a community hub as well as banking.
- KiwiBank launch new flexible mortgage platforms for owner occupier first time home buyers that is Government backed AND offers to take any stressed out first time home buyers from other banks who are threatening to take them to a mortgage sale.
- Windfall tax on bank profits.
- Financial transaction tax that makes so much money from speculators and the super rich that it allows us to lower GST to 10%.
The Australian Banks have had it too good for too long, as late stage capitalism continues to implode and crash, we need new ways of ensuring our independence and self reliance.
Being at the mercy of Australian Banks in an under regulated market ripe for annual plunder is not a fucking economic policy!
We need to start regulating these monopolies and duopolies and oligopolies because that’s the job of a Government in a democracy, to regulate capitalism so that its benefits are harvested and shared by everyone, not just by those making obscene profits at our collective expense!
Fuck these rich pricks and their rigged casino!
If there is a Labour/Green/Māori Party Government, you best believe that this drive to regulate and redistribute the vast wealth of these structures to the people they rely on for a market will happen!
Expect to hear a lot more shrill rich white voices screaming the end of Western Civilisation as this political reality begins to dawn upon them, especially from Grant Robertson who will do all he can to protect the Banks from the Left.
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Yep. Why bother? None of Labour’s previous commissions have achieved anything but choreographed pretend we care shows! More amazingly is they think we take any notice nowadays!
Remember the discussion about why so many towns and villages had all their bank branches shuttered and the post office closed down? Until Westpac were criticised for more branch closures the other day, I hadn’t heard any mention for years.
Remember when nearly all bank accounts were either at the post office or a member-owned trustee savings bank (one for every province)? You won’t hear that reported anywhere, nor any discussion about why the Commonwealth Bank, the N.A.B., A.N.Z. and Westpac somehow ended up owning everything. (Did anyone vote for that?)
I doubt they’ll allow an actual expert on small local banks like Richard Werner to be involved. I won’t be surprised if they also ignore the collapse of nearly all the credit unions. (How much debate about that was in the national press?)
it is indeed a scandal kristoff if you wanna make the big bucks run local branches as loss leaders and a local service…but no, the banks want to squeeze every penny from kiwis and our weak govts of all complexions are happy to go along
Yep and this is part of the usual pre-election flurry of pretend we careisms which will either be quietly shelved after the vote or more likely dumped by the incoming NACT government. Voters will give the benefit of the doubt after a single term in office, they’re not so forgiving the second, third etc time.
I think this more about securing the Wellington bureaucratic elites votes. The govt ploughs so much money into them that come election day these people will remember what side their bread is buttered.
Yet another kick the can down the road.
Does any minister have shareholdings for consultancy firms hidden in trusts? It’s the only sensible conclusion to draw from this farce.
don’t forget to investigate the nats as well – they’re all at it.
The problem is not the banks, it’s the widespread lack of financial literacy in New Zealand.
I’m not asking Kiwis to become Warren Buffet or George Soros but for God’s sake be wary of debt! Especially stupid, unnecessary debt.
I can regale you with countless stories, but one I came across this week was a tradie. He’s just out of his apprenticeship with a bright future ahead, but he decided to buy a brand-new Ford Ranger, plus some fancy alloy wheels, tyres, a high ride kit, bars, snorkel etc. So, he’s put himself 80K + in debt, all while he’s still living with his parents. When I spoke to him about it – his sole aim was to impress his mates.
Of course the pickup truck guy is dumb, but a better question would be this: Why is the (fairly low-end) truck so expensive, and why are wages so bad that people are not moving out of home?
In times gone by, he would be getting a higher-end Ford F-Series for that sort of money — or an equivalent built in Lower Hutt (Falcon XA Utility etc.) Are his non-union tradesman’s wages enough that he can drive both a near-new sedan and pickup his entire life, like many tradesmen used to?
A few decades ago, he would be in his own suburban house already. Independent household creation has cratered. People one generation older earned enough that they would often move straight into their own house in their early 20s (sometimes younger). Today, nearly everyone that age is forced to have roommates, or cannot move out at all.
That’s right and there goes his secure financial future.
From now on he’ll be fighting a losing battle to keep his head above water. He’ll have to work longer hours, his body will age prematurely, he’ll sustain injuries but his mates will be green.
I hope this wondrous vehicle is insured.
Putting holidays and weddings on tick is equally foolish.
Not taking on debt might sound boring and not instagram-worthy but it’s the easiest way to build wealth steadily.
It can still be done in trying times like this, if one has a strong reins on one’s ego. Boy’s Toys are not assets.
To those who think life is dull if you don’t take a few chances, life is what you make it. Never getting out of debt is dull too, once you realize what you have done. And scary.
yeah bro, it’s all working men’s faults
Said you?
I was referring to the example given by Andrew.
Anyone can exhibit financial literacy OR make things hard for themselves.
Debt is not forgiving, no matter who you are.
While I agree with you which is a surprise there is a salesperson selling the stuff that people don’t need for a profit motive & you can’t regulate human nature. If people followed this basic advice “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” there would be a lot fewer problems.
There are many blaring financial illiterates on this site.
There are plenty in Treasury too – useless turkeys on their best days.
Martyn – Another Labour set up to look good, but do bugger all…Jacinda Ardern, and John Key would be proud
We should ask why foreign banks have a licence to create money out of thin air giving a loan and in the double entry accounting create an asset for itself as the liability for the borrower. As the issuer of the currency the state should be the sole creator of money and guarantee its worth.
Very true. C.H. Douglas was right. Our work creates the money, through the reserve bank that should be run in the interests of the people. The australians and other hostile foreigners should be run out and replaced by a state bank.
Agree. Full reserve banking (Chicago Plan), restore full bullion convertibility for bank-notes (with the metal reserve fully covering every note), and restore metal content of coinage.
The truly chilling element of ‘all this’ is that all we can do is come here and mill about while mumbling angrily and I’m certainly no exception.
So, what can we literally do about it all? Neo-liberalism I mean. roger slunk over with NL after a treasonous act while dug in under Labours skin as Labours two term finance minister. Then, to cement his plans and schemes he, and no doubt his collaborative banker and industrial minions created a far right, neo fascist party and called it ACT. Not long after that, Spud Bolger, Mr Jimbo himself introduced MMP no doubt to keep rogers ACT as close as possible to his fellow Natzos, our agrarian primary industry traitors.
This is why foreign owned banks can walk all over us. It’s because we have no political allies. Not one.
Lange’s dead, as is Norman Kirk. Rod Donald’s dead and he’d have been a vital element of the reinvention of our agricultural infrastructure to fit in with modern ways of farming, namely in an holistic, regenerative and organic manner. Like my family did back in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s prior to the influence of the agri-chemical industry and their wily ways.
roger douglas, however, is still alive and the fucker’s 85 and he has chimp faced seymour as his minion in waiting.
I would argue that we no longer have a ‘democracy’. We just have rich cunts and their army consisting of our politicians and the banksters, who are foreign owned, you won’t need to be reminded.
The reality is that we can’t fix this alone. We need urgent help to drain the sewers. ( I know. A sort of trumpism.)
Lets ask the Crown? While Biden tripped over a small sand bag our *King rode about on a large black horse with a sword while wearing judith collin’s pubic hair on his head. Respect!
* Yes, I know. A bit nauseating and enraging, I understand the sentiment. Particularly if one’s Maori.
One final thing. We must learn how to tell our politicians what we want. Or fucking else. Not, of we having to acquiesce to their corrupt and post- lobbied self interest.
I think you are deeply disturbed.
With governments as shit as NZ’s – people should be disturbed.
Really?
Yet another word jumble.
To me, the (all) governments failure to increase the fund base of Kiwi Bank over time is as mysterious as Michael Wood not selling his shares. Is it Stupidity or greed. Are our governments frightened to upset the financial beltway and access to funds that the OZ banks provide and NZ can’t provide on its on. Probably. It’s short sighted BS. Only idiots can’t see a stronger KB helps keep the OZ banks honest, and at the same time helping with specialist loans, under guidance, to those that need them. On this point I totally agree with MB.
If you want Kiwibank to not be shit you simply need to list it on the NZX and sell off 49% of it. Government retains 51% and ultimate control. Kiwibank gets run better by the pestering of shareholders.
Look. Kiwibank is shit. My partner is an ideologically blinkered green voting numpty, so our joint account is with Kiwibank. I have accounts with ANZ, BNZ, and Westpac for a variety of reasons. Kiwibank is far and away the shittiest of the lot. Why? Pretty simply really. The government is generally hopeless at competing in markets.
How about we focus on Labours corruption first?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132368451/national-party-donation-from-ccplinked-newspaper-publisher-by-the-book
Speaking of corruption….
” Another Working Group where the real reforms necessary are always killed off by the elite vested interests, just like the Petrol price working group, just like the Supermarket working group, hell even the Royal Commission into historic abuse by the State seems to be ignored with news two staff are caught abusing this week! ”
In my most darkest cynical moments I wont shed a tear if these people loose the election.
Sure what is replacing them is worse but as a struggling hard working person on the living wage it will make very little difference to me and thousands of others because regardless of LINO or NACTZ it pretty much stays the same. I remember in 2017 being cautiously optimistic that after nine years of austerity and naked political theft the promised transformation would move us away from the road we have been travelling on towards something fairer and a better deal for hard working poor people like me…there are a lot of us out there and nobody represents us and so many more doing it tough.
All I know is that it can’t continue that we have such a large group of marginalised people who are getting angrier. Now I know how the French peasants felt before their revolution.
” What these shrill rich white man voices all tsk tsking about a New Zealand owned Bank fear is that the sleepy hobbits of muddle NuZilind might wake up and demand some more economic sovereignty and focus on the exceptional greed of the Australian Banks. ”
Wishful thinking Bomber. Neoliberalism has divided and conquered us and what was once our economy.
” Another Working Group where the real reforms necessary are always killed off by the elite vested interests, just like the Petrol price working group, just like the Supermarket working group, hell even the Royal Commission into historic abuse by the State seems to be ignored with news two staff are caught abusing this week! ”
In my most darkest cynical moments I wont shed a tear if this government looses the election.
Sure what is replacing them is worse but as a struggling hard working person on the living wage it will make very little difference to me and thousands of others because regardless of LINO or NACTZ it pretty much stays the same. I remember in 2017 being cautiously optimistic that after nine years of austerity and naked political theft the promised transformation would move us away from the road we have been travelling on towards something fairer and a better deal for hard working poor people like me…there are a lot of us out there and nobody represents us and so many more doing it tough.
All I know is that it can’t continue that we have such a large group of marginalised people who are getting angrier. Now I know how the French peasants felt before their revolution.
” What these shrill rich white man voices all tsk tsking about a New Zealand owned Bank fear is that the sleepy hobbits of muddle NuZilind might wake up and demand some more economic sovereignty and focus on the exceptional greed of the Australian Banks. ”
Wishful thinking Bomber. Neoliberalism has divided and conquered us and what was once our economy.
jays you do that for us everyday relevant or not to the subject in hand
Kiwibank began because once upon a time there had existed a New Zealand Post Office. And in that Post Office, was a Savings Bank. In the late 1980s the Post Office was broken into Three Corporations. Postal, Telecom and Banking. In 1988 400 Village and small Town Post Offices were shut down ruthlessly by the Fourth Labour Government with no regard for the people of those communities. Later on Postbank was sold to ANZ. All this occurred under a Labour Government and largely behind Langes back in the case of the sale of Postbank. Around the same period in history, Trustee Savings Bank had been set up to be privatised and this occured in Auckland. The BNZ was also partially privatised. By the mid 1990s there were no publicly owned banks in New Zealand left other than TSB. By the late 1990s the public and communities in Heartland New Zealand were fed up with the closure of the Banks and their subsequent retreating behind an ATM Machine and an 0800 number. Communities were being gutted of the essential banking function. On top of this, the big Aussie Banks were exploiting the situation by demanding exorbitant fees off customers. There was almost no competition and so they got away with it. The big Australian owned Banks were milking it off the New Zealanders, horrendous profits going out of the Country each year. People and communities were tired of the situation and looked to various alternatives. Credit Unions were one such model. However there was a realization by and large that there needed to be a New Zealand owned bank and the pressure was mounting behind such. Commeth the man Commeth the hour and dear old Uncle Jim certainly came all over the place, attending public meetings from the Cape to the Bluff and promoting his Peoples Bank, which would be a reincarnation you might say of the old NZ Post Office Savings Bank. It was something needed. A bank that was New Zealand owned, profits stayed in New Zealand but the clincher was the 300 plus branch network of NZ Post which the Bank would operate through. That and the low fees, was the big selling point and it’s what got the public support. Eventually once in Government Jim fought for the Peoples Bank. He succeeded and won, and the Bank was created and it turned out to be a real winner when it operated through the Post Shops. However in the last ten years, NZ Post progressively closed down their in house network of Post Shops. Kiwibank has also been partially split off from NZ Post and no longer operates a branch network nor does it call itself the Peoples Bank. Instead it has become the very thing that it was never intended to be. It has abandoned its customers and communities, closing its branches and withdrawing to hiding behind an internet website and an 0800 number and exhibits none of the social concern that is what gave rise to the Banks formation in the first place. Kiwibank today is no better then the Big Australian banks. And that is the problem. It was intended to be the opposite of the big Australian banks, and to service local communities with a branch system. That it has now done the opposite and closed down its local branches is in my opinion the height of arrogance and an insult to the memory of the late Jim Anderton. His vision of the Peoples Bank was of a Bank that served people with actual physical branches located in towns and villages across New Zealand. Not a greedy corporation that hides behind the internet and forces its customers to use the internet. Kiwibank was meant to be a Bank that had branches in towns and communities. Not what it has become.