National, NZ First crush FinTech innovation

National is suffocating the emergence of a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending industry in New Zealand, says ACT Leader David Seymour. National last night voted to continue treating P2P lending platforms as though they are traditional lenders.

“P2P companies like Harmoney and PledgeMe are very different to regular lenders, because they don’t actually lend any money,” says Mr Seymour. “They simply facilitate lending between consenting individuals, cutting out the middleman. They make their money from lender and platform fees instead of interest rates. So why are P2P lenders being made to collect fees in the same way as traditional lenders?

“This has come from rules established in 2003, when no-one could even imagine a P2P lending platform. It’s a classic case of archaic red tape suffocating innovation.

“In October last year, Paul Goldsmith said he and officials would consider this exact issue ‘over the next few weeks’, but we’ve since heard nothing. That’s why ACT yesterday put forward an amendment to fix the issue, gaining support from Labour, the Greens, and the Maori Party.

“Sadly, National and New Zealand First blocked this change, sending a clear message that FinTech businesses are better off not setting up in New Zealand.

“A stronger ACT will prioritise cutting red tape so that New Zealanders can benefit from technological advances that increase competition and, in the case of financial services, lower interest rates.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media