Mike's Minute: Reality vs ideology re: asset sales

Bit of buzz around Kiwibank as it potentially looks to have another crack at getting bigger, and by getting bigger, then becomes better able to take on the so-called "big four".

This is business and it's politics.

Asset sales are back on the agenda, especially for the National and ACT parties.

David Farrar: Kiwibank to get private capital

Nicola Willis announced:

Kiwibank has been given the green light to compete more vigorously with the big four Australian-owned banks that dominate the New Zealand banking sector.

Ryan Bridge: Should National campaign on a partial float?

They haven't said it explicitly yet, but one day soon, our KiwiSaver contributions will rise to 12% and Kiwibank will be partially sold to foreign buyers.

On the bank, Nicola Willis is flying a kite and talking about a potentially partial float of the stock exchange for the wee Kiwi battler. It needs capital to grow and take on the big banks.

They're getting access to an extra half a billion through changes already announced. But they could yet get more, should National campaign on a partial float.

David Farrar: Should Kiwibank be the bank of last resort?

I’d rather the Government doesn’t own any banks (except the Reserve Bank) but as it does own Kiwibank, I’m wondering if it should be mandated to provide banking facilities to customers who can’t get banking service elsewhere?

Organisations and businesses simply can’t function without a bank account they can receive money in and pay money from. It isn’t a nice to have, but a must have.

Sir Bob Jones: More Kafkaesque madness

A week back, a government agency, namely the Commerce Commission, prosecuted Kiwibank, a government owned entity, in another government agency’s premises, namely the Auckland District Court.

The upshot, doubtless involving costly lawyers, was Kiwibank being fined $1.5 million.

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.

Professor Martien Lubberink: Owner beware - 4 reasons why selling part of Kiwibank could do more harm than good

To sell, or not to sell – that is the question various governments have asked since Kiwibank was established in 2002. Now it’s the turn of the current National-led coalition to examine the bank’s state ownership.

Ministers have asked Kiwibank’s board to explore avenues for the bank’s expansion, potentially including private sector or Crown entity investment.

Chris Lynch: Kiwibank - Alleged systemic breaches

Commerce Commission files criminal charges against Kiwibank, alleging systemic breaches of Fair Trading Act

The Commerce Commission has filed criminal charges against Kiwibank Limited (Kiwibank), alleging systemic breaches of the Fair Trading Act.

The breaches relate to issues that resulted in more than $7 million being incorrectly charged to over 36,000 customers for fees and interest rates in relation to home loans, credit cards and overdrafts, over a period of several years.

Michael Bassett: Modern Labour sticks to that old time religion

One of the fascinating byways of history is the weird religious cults that people had followed over the years. In Oliver Cromwell’s time there were the Shakers who shook with the power of the Holy Spirit, and who went off to America, getting madder in transit. And there were the Levelers who held property in common. And the Fifth Monarchy Men who believed that four cycles of earthly power had come and gone, and ascended mountains at appointed moments hoping to welcome the fifth, the rule of their version of Christ. Come to think of it, my mother told me about a crowd who went up Mt Eden in their night attire in 1931 to welcome the return of Christ, got rained on, and were rather bedraggled on their descent.

Today there are still a few who have faith in Jacinda's Labour government despite the overwhelming evidence that it is an outmoded religion, lacking analytical and executive skills.

Point of Order: Robertson (we suspect) was banking on more plaudits for his balancing act to keep Kiwibank in Kiwi ownership

Finance Minister Grant Robertson didn’t get the cheers he likely was expecting from the government’s spending of $2.1bn to ensure Kiwibank remains fully Kiwi-owned.

The fact that two of Kiwibank’s existing shareholders, themselves New Zealand entities, wanted out immediately cast doubt on Robertson’s claim it was a win-win for the Crown.

And then the critics fired up, with one of NZ’s most formidable business leaders, Kerry McDonald, declaring that government ownership “rarely leads to success”.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: It is not a bank's job to decide who are the goodies and baddies

Shane Jones reckons that Kiwibank's board has gone bonkers and I have to agree with him.

If you haven't caught up on this, Kiwibank seems to have taken it upon itself to be New Zealand's moral police. It has released its Responsible Business Banking policy, which bans a whole bunch of industries from doing business with it.

Casinos, fossil fuel producers, the non-medicinal and recreational drugs industry, the military grade firearms industry, predatory lenders, tobacco manufacturers and, a bit of a surprise, brothels and strip clubs.