5 November 2001 Media Statement

Anderton welcomes Kiwibank

An important step in guaranteeing better banking for New Zealanders….

“The Kiwibank with its new board is a solid foundation for the new nationwide bank owned for and by New Zealanders,” Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton said today.

"Kiwibank is an excellent choice of name by NZ Post, as is the selection of specific Kiwibank board members.

“Richard Westlake, Ian Fitzgerald, and Adrienne Cleland joining the NZ Post board members, and Elmar Toime, NZPost Chief Executive under the chairmanship of Jim Bolger in forming the Kiwibank board, shows a commitment to a long term future for the new bank.

Jim Anderton says he knows that the announcements today will give confidence to the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who will be the Kiwibank’s new customers.

“The Kiwibank will only need a fraction of the number of customers that say they will change banks in order to be successful; 100,000 customers over three years represents only 5 per cent of the banking market.

“There are those in the opposition who say that New Zealanders are not good enough to run or own our own bank. The Kiwibank which will be run by our most respected enterprise, NZ Post, will show they are wrong.

“It is also a strong endorsement for the bank to see the foreign owned banks improve their services and customer relations since the new bank became a serious proposal over a year ago,” said Jim Anderton.

Jim Anderton sees the benefits of the new bank as cheaper fees, the retention of banking profits in New Zealand, new services such as banking for children, more branches at convenient locations and greater flexibility for opening hours for bank customers.

ENDS

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