5,000 signatures reached
To: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis
Luxon: Hands Off Kiwibank!
We are calling on the NZ Government to abandon any plans to privatise Kiwibank and commit to keeping it in public ownership. Instead of selling it off to investment funds and the wealthy, the Government should ensure Kiwibank acts in the interests of people, not profit, providing lower rates and fees, and better services to the public, competing more effectively with the Big Four offshore-owned banks.
Why is this important?
We all want to live in a society that has well resourced services, where our collective pool is big enough to cover the things that make our communities thrive - like good education and health systems, public transport and infrastructure. But right now that pool is being drained. Not only by the cuts and funding freezes implemented by the current government, but also by international corporations profiting off everyday people accessing basic services.
Banking is no different. Currently, the four biggest banks in Aotearoa are all Australian-owned, and all operate to make huge profits off the basic financial services we all rely on just to take part in society, and those profits are growing. In the decade to 2022, the Big Four banks’ profits increased by 80%, generating $50 billion in cumulative net profit after tax over this period, with 77% of that going to offshore shareholders.[1] That’s billions of dollars coming out of Aotearoa that could be going into our communities, our health and education systems, our infrastructure.
The privatisation of BNZ contributed to this drain of resources, along with the broader reforms of the banking sector in the 1980s and 90s which saw consolidation and acquisition by Australian banks.
That’s why Kiwibank was set up. A project driven by the late Jim Anderton in the 2000s, its aim was to claw back some of what was lost, and it was successful in driving down bank fees for customers across the market.[2]
The National Party, Act Party and big banks opposed it from the start,[3] as it posed a direct threat to corporate profiteering.
And now, they have announced their desire to sell Kiwibank, with Nicola Willis, the Minister of Finance, currently taking proposals to Cabinet.[4]
She has said it’s needed so Kiwibank can compete with the “highly profitable” offshore owned banks. But this is a contradiction - privatising Kiwibank will only see it become just like the others, sending mega profits offshore, and defeating its own purpose. There is another way!
We are calling on the Government to abandon any plans to privatise Kiwibank and commit to keeping it in public ownership.
This is despite who’s buying - selling Kiwibank to the Superannuation Fund or ACC likewise does not protect public ownership, as they could sell it themselves in the future (like the Superannuation Fund wanted to in 2022).[5]
We need our representatives to do just that - to represent the people of Aotearoa, and our long term economic interests, not those of corporations. To stop the sale, and turn Kiwibank toward benefitting us all, through providing lower rates and fees, and better services to the public.
Shifting Kiwibank's focus from profitability to providing lower margins will make it more competitive and help bring down mega profits across the sector.
Fight privatisation! Hands off our Kiwibank!