Latest news with #ASB
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Commerce Commission dismisses Federated Farmers complaint on net-zero banking
ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac, and Rabobank are all signatories to the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. Photo: RNZ The Commerce Commission has dismissed a Federated Farmers complaint that five major local banks acted like a cartel, tying lending to climate targets. ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac, and Rabobank are all signatories to the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which aligns lending policies to climate change goals. Together, the five banks account for 97 percent of agricultural lending in New Zealand. The Commission's general manager competition Vanessa Horne said no evidence of anti-competitive or cartel-like behaviour had been found. "We thoroughly investigated the complaint and concluded that the banks had made their own, independent decisions. "We found no evidence of unlawful co-ordination between the banks or with the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, either relating to the banks joining or in meeting their obligations under this alliance." Federated Farmers alleged the five banks were co-ordinating their agricultural lending with Net-Zero Banking Alliance strategies which could violate the Commerce Act. It also alleged that this could make it harder for farmers to get loans and increase borrowing costs. Its banking spokesperson Mark Hooper called the Commission's decision disappointing but accepted it. "The reason we made the submission in the first place was that we felt there had been some collusion and there was a sort of collective agreement that would have limited farmers' choice. So in that sense we're disappointed, but we still think it was the right course of action to go down." Hooper said they remained concerned that banks were straying from their "core role of lending money based on real risk considerations and not indulging in the climate change space". The Net-Zero Banking Alliance is a United Nations (UN) initiative that guides banks to lead on climate mitigation in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Its website claims 127 banks worldwide have signed up, overseeing $74 trillion in total assets. In background information the Commission said the Alliance did not prescribe targets for signatories, gave a framework for target setting, and tools to assess the emissions within their portfolios and how to speed up lending towards low-carbon activity. Rural concerns about the reduction of lending to rural based petrol stations , prompted New Zealand First MP Andy Foster to pursue a private members' bill to prevent banks from refusing to lend for so-called "woke ideology" reasons. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
a day ago
- Business
- 1News
Inflation predicted to hit 12-month high for June quarter
Inflation is expected to hit a 12-month high, as surging food prices and power costs put the squeeze on household budgets. Consumer prices for the three months ended June are expected to have risen 0.6%, pushing the annual rate to 2.8% from 2.5% in March. ANZ senior economist Miles Workman said there would be familiar domestic drivers of the latest numbers. "The main drivers of quarterly inflation are expected to come from the food and housing-related groups — accelerating electricity inflation, but slowing rents and construction." High export prices for meat and dairy products have driven local food prices, and thus stoked inflation, but at the same time, they are delivering strong export returns that have supported the economy. ADVERTISEMENT ASB senior economist Mark Smith said the spike in inflation was expected to push the annual rate above 3% in the September quarter, but should prove to be temporary. "We expect the period of three percent-plus inflation to be short-lived. Forthcoming inflation expectations surveys will be critical for ascertaining whether team transitory or team persistence will win the inflation tug-o-war. "Our core judgement is that the deteriorating global outlook and the large margin of spare capacity will dampen the medium-term outlook for inflation." New Zealand currency. (Source: RBNZ discomfort Workman said the higher inflation numbers would be uncomfortable reading for the Reserve Bank (RBNZ), which would have to balance between controlling inflation and helping the economy. "The RBNZ will need to balance any upside surprise in the CPI against the signal from the high-frequency data, which is currently pointing to a stalling recovery and therefore downside risks to the medium-term inflation outlook." ADVERTISEMENT In its most recent monetary review, the RBNZ acknowledged the speed-up in inflation, but also gave a strong hint of a further rate cut at the end of August. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, Mama Hooch rapists appeal, Ukraine's new message to Russia, and Jason Momoa's plans here. (Source: Breakfast) "If medium-term inflation pressures continue to ease as projected, the committee expects to lower the official cash rate further," the RBNZ statement said. Kiwibank economists said the issue for the RBNZ and interest rate policy was underlying inflation trends. "Encouragingly, core inflation has been trending south since hitting the 6.7% peak at the end of 2022. In the year to March 2025, core inflation fell to 2.6%." They said the economy needed lower rates and they expected another 25 basis-point cut in August. At this stage, Workman picked the cuts in August, November and early next year would take the cash rate to a low of 2.5%. ADVERTISEMENT By Gyles Beckford of
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Inflation predicted to hit 12-month high for June quarter
High food, power and housing coasts are offset by cheaper fuel. Photo: RNZ Inflation is expected to hit a 12-month high, as surging food prices and power costs put the squeeze on household budgets. Consumer prices for the three months ended June are expected to have risen 0.6 percent, pushing the annual rate to 2.8 percent from 2.5 percent in March. ANZ senior economist Miles Workman said there would be familiar domestic drivers of the latest numbers. "The main drivers of quarterly inflation are expected to come from the food and housing-related groups - accelerating electricity inflation, but slowing rents and construction." High export prices for meat and dairy products have driven local food prices, and thus stoked inflation, but at the same time, they are delivering strong export returns that have supported the economy. ASB senior economist Mark Smith said the spike in inflation was expected to push the annual rate above three percent in the September quarter, but should prove to be temporary. "We expect the period of three percent-plus inflation to be short-lived. Forthcoming inflation expectations surveys will be critical for ascertaining whether team transitory or team persistence will win the inflation tug-o-war. "Our core judgement is that the deteriorating global outlook and the large margin of spare capacity will dampen the medium-term outlook for inflation." Workman said the higher inflation numbers would be uncomfortable reading for the Reserve Bank (RBNZ), which would have to balance between controlling inflation and helping the economy. "The RBNZ will need to balance any upside surprise in the CPI against the signal from the high-frequency data, which is currently pointing to a stalling recovery and therefore downside risks to the medium-term inflation outlook." In its most recent monetary review, the RBNZ acknowledged the speed-up in inflation, but also gave a strong hint of a further rate cut at the end of August. "If medium-term inflation pressures continue to ease as projected, the committee expects to lower the official cash rate further ," the RBNZ statement said. Kiwibank economists said the issue for the RBNZ and interest rate policy was underlying inflation trends. "Encouragingly, core inflation has been trending south since hitting the 6.7 percent peak at the end of 2022. In the year to March 2025, core inflation fell to 2.6 percent." They said the economy needed lower rates and they expected another 25 basis-point cut in August. At this stage, Workman picked the cuts in August, November and early next year would take the cash rate to a low of 2.5 percent. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
ASB joins ANZ in declining legal settlement proposal, as Winston Peters comes in to bat for them
On Wednesday, journalists received an email from the lawyers representing ANZ and ASB customers, detailing their proposed settlement. The email came through as the funders of the class action were making their case to parliamentarians for why they opposed the law change. Having worked on the class action for four years, they argued it was unfair for the Government to change the rules of the game now - after it had been lobbied by the banks. The retrospective law change could reduce the damages the customers, their lawyers and funders stand to receive from the legal action. ANZ responded straight after the lawyers made their settlement offer public on Wednesday, calling it a 'stunt intended to influence members of Parliament'. 'The litigation funders are worried that MPs have seen through their attempts to exploit a poorly drafted provision in the CCCFA and are desperate to shut down the strong public interest arguments in favour of the amendment,' ANZ said. It said its disclosure error had seen it undercharge customers an average of $2 a month over 12 months. 'There is no consumer harm. ANZ wrote off the amount it was owed and therefore put customers in a better position than had the issue never happened,' ANZ said. 'The proposed settlement appears to be primarily driven by the financial interests of the litigation funders and the proposed resolution does not reflect the nature or scale of the underlying issue.' The litigation funders, LPF Group, will take a cut of between 13% and 25% of the settlement. Peters says litigation funders stand to make 'windfall gains' On Wednesday the Herald reported that New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones expressed concern over the retrospective element of the proposed law change, saying his party would take advice before deciding whether to support the bill being passed into law in its current state. However on Thursday, the party's leader Winston Peters defended Commerce and Consumer Minister Scott Simpson during question time in Parliament, saying the 2015 legislation was 'badly drafted' and litigation funders stood to make 'windfall gains' if the law wasn't changed. Act leader David Seymour told the Herald his party supported the bill because it is a part of the Coalition Government. However, he had written to Simpson asking how to respond to constituents concerned about the bill applying to the past. 'Who knows, maybe Scott will change his mind in response to this,' Seymour said. Labour MP Arena Williams took aim at Simpson during question time on Thursday for getting a key detail of the proposed law change wrong during an interview on Newstalk ZB, and incorrectly saying the Government hadn't been lobbied by the banks on the matter. She echoed an allegation made by the litigation funders that Simpson wasn't across the detail when he took the proposed law change to Cabinet, as he had only just been appointed Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister following Andrew Bayly's resignation. ASB and ANZ CEOs to be questioned by politicians Coming back to ASB, it questioned the math behind the proposed settlement, saying it provided 'no certainty to ASB or other banks which may become subject to similar class actions, or to the sector as a whole'. The customers' lawyers said $600m was equivalent to 3.5% of ANZ's profits between 2016 and 2019, and 5% of ASB's profits over this time. They proposed the banks pay the lesser of $600m and 68% of the borrowing costs customers paid through the duration of the banks' breaches. Under the existing law, the banks could be required to reimburse customers 100% of the borrowing costs they paid for the duration of the breaches. If the law is changed, judges will be empowered to use their discretion to issue fair penalties. The starting point won't be the reimbursement of all borrowing costs. Parliament's finance and expenditure committee is considering written and oral submissions from the public on the proposed law change. ANZ's chief executive and general counsel, and ASB's chief executive and board chair are among those who will present to the committee on Monday. The committee will also hear from various consumer groups and legal experts, among others. Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald's Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
ASB rejects offer to settle class action lawsuit for more than $300m
ASB and ANZ have both rejected an offer to settle a class action lawsuit for more than $300 million. Photo: ASB bank has rejected an offer to settle a class action law suit for historic breaches of credit disclosure laws . The offer on behalf of more than 150,000 customers of the ASB and ANZ was to settle for just over $300 million. ASB has joined ANZ in rejecting the offer as a move to influence MPs considering changes to the credit laws to close historic loopholes and bad drafting. ASB said it did not understand how the offer had been calculated, and that it would not put an end to legal action. The consumers' group said the proposed credit law changes might undermine their claim, while the industry said the loopholes posed a multi-billion dollar risk for the financial system. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
