More banking inquiries? What about RBNZ's next chair?
Finance Minister Nicola Willis
The government has announced yet another inquiry into competition in banking, this time to be conducted by parliament's finance and expenditure committee (FEC).
This is even before the Commerce Commission delivers its final report on competition in personal banking services, which is due by Aug 20.
While the FEC will also look at competition in business and rural banking services, parliament's primary production committee is already looking at rural banking services.
My colleague, Paul McBeth, now a columnist at BusinessDesk, suspects the new inquiry “will largely be sound and fury, rather than anything substantial, with much grandstanding and few grand ideas,” as he wrote on LinkedIn.
Because we actually don't need yet another inquiry – not unless the government doesn't really want to do anything and is simply using inquiries to just push the issue down the track and so off the immediate agenda.
Mind you, the FEC inquiry one was part of National's coalition agreement with the NZ First Party so it's possible it's just pro forma.