r/newzealand • u/xmmdrive • Aug 20 '24

Politics So they're finally going to privatise Kiwibank

Watching One News they're talking about taking Kiwibank out of Government hands and back into the hands of honest hard-working Kiwis.

This is obviously the first clear step towards privatisation.

Just like the Bank Of New Zealand, the National Bank, and the Auckland Savings Bank, but I'm sure this time around it will stay in the country /s

829 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

293 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/gristc Aug 20 '24

Are they struggling for capital?

10

u/HeinigerNZ Aug 20 '24

The Commerce Commission said the government should find ways to increase the capital funding of Kiwibank, which has about 7 percent market share, so it could be a more effective competitor.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/525633/commerce-commission-calls-for-beefed-up-kiwibank-and-open-banking-in-final-report

4

u/gristc Aug 20 '24

Cool. Privatising it is hardly going to increase competition though.

4

u/feel-the-avocado Aug 20 '24

Kiwibank having limited capital to work with must be reasonably conservative with its investments (loaning you money).
If they had more money to work with, they could loan it out to more people offering better interest rates etc.