Snapshot Highlights Banks' Efforts To Reduce Unnecessary Barriers For Māori
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua has published a primarily qualitative snapshot that offers a comparison of how banks are working to remove unnecessary barriers to Māori Access to Capital (MA2K).
The Māori contribution to the New Zealand economy has grown to $32 billion (production GDP) in 2023. However, Māori businesses are more likely to face capital access challenges due to common factors like being younger, smaller, or more rural, as well as specific issues such as lending on whenua Māori and lower trust or awareness with the banking system.
Acting Assistant Governor Financial Stability, Angus McGregor says that the snapshot will improve data and understanding across the Aotearoa banking system.
'The measures in the snapshot show the steps some banks are taking to remove unnecessary barriers for Māori, helping to lift the entire sector in supporting MA2K and financial inclusion more broadly,' says Mr McGregor.
Findings from the snapshot show that participating banks who volunteered to collaborate on this project, have introduced Māori-focused roles and strategies, supported by organisation-wide training to strengthen understanding of te reo, tikanga, and the Māori economy. The snapshot findings also suggests that banks recognise the value of Māori leadership and customer understanding and have products to support lending on whenua Māori.
Some banks have initiatives specifically supporting Māori businesses and offer financial literacy programmes that incorporate te reo and/or tikanga. Māori employee representation varies between banks, with an average of 8% across all banks.
However, there remains plenty of work to be done to continue to reduce any unnecessary barriers for Māori and we encourage banks to improve their data relating to Māori access to capital and enhance their practices around Māori business identification.
Improved data on MA2K is an important step in tracking progress of the banking sector and builds on the momentum developed by the sector's actions.
'This work is in line with the 2025 Letter of Expectations from the Minister of Finance for the Reserve Bank to continue its collaboration with industry stakeholders to pursue competition-enhancing initiatives, including reducing barriers to lending for housing on Māori freehold land,' says Governor Christian Hawkesby.
This snapshot was developed in collaboration with Tāwhia the Māori Bankers Rōpū and continues the 2022 MA2K work programme as part of our broader te ao Māori and financial inclusion workstreams. Impact requires a whole of sector approach, so we furthermore welcome the opportunity to work with other organisations to support this ongoing work programme.
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