Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'm not convinced the Commerce Commission study will lead anywhere

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

For once, we have a Commerce Commission study that isn’t going nowhere.

Nicola Willis says she's going to do what the Commerce Commission has recommended in the banking study out today - and she'll do all 14 recommendations.
This is a little surprise, isn’t it? Because we have got very used to these studies coming out and pretty much nothing of any substance being done. We've had the petrol study, the supermarket study, the construction industry study - I was a little cynical about the banking study, but I was wrong.

And what's even more surprising is that it's a centre-right Government - who are often accused of cosying up to big business - who are prepared to do the ballsy thing there. Doesn't that make a nice change?

Now as to whether it’s actually going to make a difference - the jury is out big time.

I mean, I love the idea of capitalising Kiwibank, it'll most likely improve the bank, it'll give Kiwi investors another productive asset to put their money into - it deserves to be beefed up. And for those reasons alone, I'm stoked Nicola Willis is committed to doing it.

But I'm not convinced it’s going to be the disruptor and add the competition that's needed. Too many people who know a lot more about economics and finance have said it won't be big enough.
With the open banking thing that Nicola Willis is committed to, again, I haven't seen any evidence that this is the game-changer it's being sold as. If anything, it's been really expensive in Australia - it's cost about $1.5 billion without doing all that much for customers.
Now, those are just two out of 14 recommendations - and who knows? Maybe in combination these will all together make a difference, but as I say, the jury's still out.

But you can't fault the fact that the Government's prepared to do what's recommended. And even if it doesn't affect competition as much as we'd like, at least we're getting on with doing something about Kiwibank. Which, frankly, has been a long time coming.

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