Ele Ludemann: We don’t have to own KiwiBank

My opposition to the government establishing a bank was such that after I didn’t enter what I think was then still a Post Office where KiwiBank was located, for three years.

My boycott was incomplete, however. I still had to buy stamps and post letters and parcels and did so at the local Four Square supermarket which had a postal agency.

Post Offices became Post Shops then shut up, leaving postal services to book shops and other agencies and their premises to KiwiBank.

My opposition to the principle of the government owning a bank still stands but I was given a glimmer of hope in Finance Minister Nicola Willis’s speech to the National Party conference:

. . . The recent Commerce Commission study into New Zealand’s banking sector makes it crystal clear: Disruptive forces are needed to drive change.

No more cosy oligopoly. Instead we need more mavericks. Open banking technology. More transparent choices for customers.

For example, I would like to see KiwiBank grow. I would like it to become a disruptive competitor that takes on the big Australian-owned banks.

It can’t do that without extra capital. And I am interested in exploring where that capital might come from. Lots of Kiwisaver funds, New Zealand investment funds and New Zealanders themselves are looking for homegrown places to put their money and invest in New Zealand’s future. And we have to strengthen banking competition.

So let’s have a look at what’s possible. It’s time to explore all the options. . .

We don’t have to own KiwiBank but I suspect the political difficulties would preclude a full scale sale of the bank, but this does look like openness to a partial float, perhaps like those of power companies, or at least allowing KiwiBank to raise funds from sources other than the government.

It will still be a State Owned Enterprise but a stronger one with more capital than the government could, or should, provide.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.