Cabinet Minister Shane Jones will meet with ANZ's chief executive in Melbourne tomorrow in an attempt to make him "keenly aware of the sense of foreboding" he has placed on rural New Zealand.
Cabinet Minister Shane Jones will meet with ANZ's chief executive in Melbourne tomorrow in an attempt to make him "keenly aware of the sense of foreboding" he has placed on rural New Zealand.
Cabinet Minister Shane Jones will meet with ANZ's chief executive in Melbourne tomorrow in an attempt to make him "keenly aware of the sense of foreboding" he has placed on rural New Zealand.
Jones says he is also open to listening to the concerns of the bank's boss, Shayne Elliott,when it comes to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's controversial new capital requirement rules.
This is despite the fact the Reserve Bank is an independent entity the Government has no control over.
The meeting with Elliott comes a month after Jones wrote to him with concerns about comments he made relating to ANZ's operations in New Zealand.
Elliott threatened to review the "size, nature and operations" of the New Zealand business if the Reserve Bank implements its proposed changes to capital ratios.
Those changes would mean ANZ, and other banks, would need to have more money on hand.
Elliott said the new rules would mean ANZ would have to reduce its investments and reallocate resources away from New Zealand to more profitable businesses.
Jones, who is the Regional Economic Development Minister, worries this would hit rural Kiwi banks the hardest and rural communities now have a sense of foreboding he wants to make Elliott "keenly aware of".
During his meeting, Jones said he was "fully expecting" Elliott to bring up the capital requirement issue – an issue that has been met with a considerable amount of pushback from the banking sector in Australia.
The opposition to the proposed rules has been so staunch, that Finance Minister Grant Robertson called for all parties involved to calm down and have a "mature debate".
Although Jones himself would not be drawn on his thoughts on the capital requirements, he said he has been contacted by "probably every bank in the country" about the issue.
Other big-name financial firms, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, have also made contact, he said.
Jones said what happens with the capital requirements was for Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr to decide.
"I accept that the Reserve Bank is something akin to an autonomous vehicle; it seems to be powered by rarefied fuel that ordinary politicians are not allowed to comment on," he told the Herald.
Adrian Orr, governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), is in charge of the process for establishing new capital requirements for banks in NZ. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"But I belong to New Zealand First and we're not the Reserve Bank. So he [Orr] has his role and I've got my role.
"[Orr] is not standing for office at the end of next year. The vehicle that I occupy with my leader, we're not an autonomous car; we're only fueled by the support of the electorate," he said, in reference to his New Zealand First Party.
"So I need to be sensitive to the fears within the electorate as to what the banks might do. I'm sure that he [Orr] already knows that – if he doesn't, he will certainly know about it when I get back."
Jones' comments are significant, given ministers are not meant to interfere with the Reserve Bank's decision making or comment publically on its policies.
Robertson has been careful to steer clear of the issue as the debate has raged on, telling media time and time again it was a matter for the Reserve Bank.
It appears Jones is not as concerned as Robertson.
"I'm not really in a position to defend Adrian Orr; he seems more than capable of defending himself. I'm here as a politician concerned about industry, concerned about jobs."
He said Robertson was aware of his meeting with Elliott.
