Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
15 MARCH 2017

BNZ’s Downsizing a Blow for Northland

The planned closure of the BNZ branch in Paihia and reduction in hours at Dargaville and Kaikohe branches is another example of a foreign corporate’s indifference to small town New Zealand, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“It’s not as though they are running short of money – last year BNZ overall recorded a profit of $913 million.

“But like other Australian-owned banks in New Zealand such as Westpac which shut 19 branches around New Zealand last year, they are interested only in making as big a profit as they can.

“They don’t care about providing a service, especially to older Kiwis who prefer face-to-face banking rather than online banking.

“The nearest BNZ banks to Paihia are at Kerikeri and Kaikohe which will seriously inconvenience many people.

“It’s obvious that by cutting the hours at Dargaville and Kaikohe, BNZ is moving towards full closure at these branches.

“Foreign banks just don’t care about ordinary Kiwis,” says Mr Peters.

Editor’s note: The BNZ Paihia bank will close permanently on Friday, April 7, 2017.

BNZ Dargaville will cut their hours to 9am-12.30pm, Monday to Friday; BNZ Kaikohe 1pm to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

ENDS

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