New Zealand First Responds to Australia’s Royal Commission Report into Misconduct in Financial Industry

New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Commerce Spokesperson Fletcher Tabuteau encourages New Zealand’s financial institutions to take note of the findings of Australia’s Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry because of its implications for New Zealand.

“The release of the report exposes a number of worrying issues in Australia’s financial services sector, which includes some of the country’s largest and wealthiest financial institutions,” Fletcher Tabuteau says.

“The historical approach of allowing large corporates to erode the wellbeing of their consumers has been well and truly uncovered.

“New Zealand First strongly supports the Royal Commission’s recommendation that explicitly requires financial institutions’ governance bodies to ensure consumer interests are put first.

“This includes tighter scrutiny of borrowers’ ability to service their loans before lending is approved, and putting an end to conflicts of interests that have proliferated in the sector for some time, particularly by mortgage brokers and financial advisers.

“While we recognise New Zealand and Australia’s financial sectors and regulations are separate, it is a revealing time for the financial sector in both Australia and New Zealand.

“New Zealand First will continue to emphasise the need for consumer interests to be paramount and we will continue to advocate for policies to address the serious flaws in our finance sector outlined in the report,” Mr Tabuteau said.

ENDS

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