Would listing Kiwibank on NZX solve the lack of banking competition?
The Commerce Commission is begging the government to provide Kiwibank with access to sufficient capital to allow it to become “a maverick,” disrupting the stable market shares of the big four Australian-owned banks.
It seems to me the most obvious way to do that would be for the government to sell 49% of Kiwibank, give most or all of the proceeds to Kiwibank to fund growth, and to list it on NZX.
ComCom's draft report on competition for banking services also takes aim at the Reserve Bank's actions in running prudential regulation that have tilted the playing field to favour the big four banks.
To a lesser extent, it also challenges the other financial sector regulator, the Financial Markets Authority, to exercise better scrutiny of the disclosure practices of mortgage advisers.
The competition regulator is also calling on the government to accelerate open banking, to set a June 30, 2026 deadline for open banking to be fully implemented, and to impose regulatory “backstops” to ensure compliance.
It also wants the government to review both the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) and the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT Act) and to remove the impediments to competition that they contain.