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The recently announced inquiry is well placed to shine a bright light on parts of the rural banking system that, until now, have been allowed to operate in the shadows.
OPINION: Finally we have a government that is brave enough to tackle the big banks on how they treat their rural clientele.
For too long the farming sector has had concerns about the levels of competition, profitability and transparency in rural lending. Concerns about banking have consistently topped the list of issues in Federated Farmers' regular farm confidence survey.
The recently announced inquiry is well placed to shine a bright light on parts of the rural banking system that, until now, have been allowed to operate in the shadows.
Federated Farmers notes that any concerns they had about just how 'rural' this inquiry would be have been well and truly put to bed with these terms of reference.
Everything they hoped to see included is in there, including questions about rural banking competition, transparency mechanisms, credit risk models, and open banking. There are also some very specific questions about the return on capital banks are getting from rural lending and the level of interest rates charged to the sector.
There's also rural accessibility to digital banking services. Rural banking customers are being short-changed with regular bank branch and ATM closures making even basic banking tasks difficult - simple things such as cash withdrawals and deposits, access to personal banking services over loans and mortgages and small businesses having to travel long distances to bank their takings and maintain a cash float.
Figures from the Reserve Bank show that over the past 20 years there has been an up to 45% contraction of bank branch and ATM numbers across New Zealand, leaving 95 towns unbanked and underbanked.
While the trend is to push customers to do more of their banking online or on the phone, for many rural communities, poor digital connectivity remains a big impediment. Farmers have been crying out for a banking inquiry. Over the next four weeks, ensure your submission reaches Parliament. It's time to find some genuine, practical and rapid solutions on rural banking.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
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Federated Farmers says the final report into banking competition is a significant step forward for rural New Zealand - and a vindication of the farming sector's concern.
Farmer lobby group Federated Farmers has announced it is supporting a new Member’s Bill which it says could bring clarity to New Zealand farmers and save millions in legal costs.
Federated Farmers says climate protest group Greenpeace is manufacturing outrage and attempting to scare New Zealanders with headlines that have no basis in science.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
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