Banks take action on conduct and culture report

5 November 2018

The New Zealand Bankers’ Association acknowledges a major report into bank conduct and culture released by the Financial Markets Authority and the Reserve Bank today, and accepts all their recommendations.

“We are pleased the review found no evidence of widespread misconduct and culture issues across the industry here,” says New Zealand Bankers’ Association acting chief executive Antony Buick-Constable.

“The report represents an opportunity for the New Zealand banking industry to retain the confidence of our customers and ensure a solid foundation for banking in future. We are ready to take that opportunity.

“We fully accept we have work to do in many areas to ensure we continue to do the right thing by our customers. We know we need to meet the high standards our customers expect. There’s a sense of urgency about this and we’ll be responding constructively and quickly.

“We will continue to engage closely with the regulators to address the issues they have identified. That means each bank consulting further with the regulators, and delivering board-endorsed work plans by the end of March 2019.

“Our banks have already taken action on frontline sales incentives and targets, with some removing them.

“This report is a credit to the 25,000 people who work in our banks. Despite the vulnerabilities identified by the regulators it’s clear that on the whole front line staff have been doing the right thing by customers. As we implement the recommendations, we will make sure our staff’s views are taken on board.

“A lot of effort went into the review. We thank the regulators for their in depth and robust approach. It took the regulators approximately 14,000 hours to complete, and involved 391 interviews with 572 bank staff in 13 towns and cities.”

ENDS

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