Fred99:

 

MikeB4:

 

Is $2B profit ridiculous bearing in mind we do want a healthy banking sector? No it is not given the size of the organisation, assets = circa A$800 to A$900 Billion

 

To me it seems like corporate greed.  Not greed, a healthy banking system with good financial backing is good.

 

Where did the $800-900 billion figure come from?  Market capitalisation of ANZ banking group is about = NZ$100 billion.

 

The $2 billion profit was for their NZ operations alone!  

 

Bank profits per capita are apparently 25% higher in NZ than in Australia, where the interim report from the Royal Commission finds:

 

“Banks and other financial institutions have put profits before people, greed has been the motive as short-term profits have been pursued at the expense of basic standards of honesty. Too often simply selling products has become the sole focus of attention.”

 

Mr Frydenberg said the culture and conduct was reflected in the banks’ remuneration practices, with “almost every piece” of misconduct identified in the report “connected directly to some monetary benefit”.

 

You'd have to be extremely naive to believe that the Aussie banks operating in NZ manage to achieve higher profits here than they do over there - but "everything is fine in NZ".

Keeping in mind that Australia has a lot more competition when it comes to banking - maybe the focus should be how we can encourage Australian based banks to start offering services to New Zealand customers without having to setup costly infrastructure in New Zealand.