1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,720
Speaker 1: Heather due for cl so. Parliament's Big Banking inquiry kicked

2
00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:05,480
Speaker 1: off today. The first to face the grilling was the

3
00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:08,400
Speaker 1: A and Z boss Antonia Watson. Stuart Smith is a

4
00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:10,360
Speaker 1: National and P. He's also the chair of the Finance

5
00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,080
Speaker 1: and Expenditure Committee running this particular inquiry and is with

6
00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,680
Speaker 1: us now. He Stewart, Oh, good evening, Stuart Fair to say,

7
00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:18,680
Speaker 1: you guys didn't actually get anything much out of this.

8
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think we really expected to get too much.

9
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 2: I think was interesting what wasn't answered and some of

10
00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:31,600
Speaker 2: the you know, the answers that we got were essentially

11
00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:35,160
Speaker 2: not accepting what the Commerce Commission had found in their

12
00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,839
Speaker 2: market study. And it was really interesting actually when you

13
00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,520
Speaker 2: start looking at the numbers that they found. In fact

14
00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,880
Speaker 2: that our banks are our big banks are very profitable

15
00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 2: on a world stage.

16
00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, but the banks counter that by saying, actually, a

17
00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,400
Speaker 1: twelve percent return on investment is pretty middle of the road.

18
00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:57,840
Speaker 2: Well, the A and D has a twelve point six

19
00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,360
Speaker 2: percent return on equity. I think that's quite high, and

20
00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,559
Speaker 2: particularly considering it's relatively low risk. I mean, our banks

21
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,040
Speaker 2: haven't lost money in twenty nine years, so they've had

22
00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,240
Speaker 2: a pretty low risk model, and they've not invested a

23
00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 2: lot in innovation and as the market study shows, is

24
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,399
Speaker 2: very little in the way of competition. But that's what

25
00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,440
Speaker 2: we haven't got any conclusions yet that we're trying to

26
00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:24,600
Speaker 2: dig into all of that and get some answers.

27
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:26,559
Speaker 1: Okay, So what did you actually get out of today?

28
00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,800
Speaker 1: Was it worth making Antonia fly down?

29
00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:38,360
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Absolutely? New Zealanders need answers. New Zealanders who are

30
00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,240
Speaker 2: paying their mortgages every day or every week, they need

31
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:44,080
Speaker 2: to none.

32
00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,480
Speaker 1: But what answers did you get out of Antonia and

33
00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,040
Speaker 1: the chair that we haven't got for you in an

34
00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 1: interview on the phone.

35
00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,320
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think you get the real answers unless

36
00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,400
Speaker 2: you get them in front of Select Committee. We're going

37
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,280
Speaker 2: to get more because we've got been questions that are

38
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,240
Speaker 2: going to them. We will find out what she got

39
00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,959
Speaker 2: paid last year. She didn't answer that question.

40
00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:11,280
Speaker 1: That's fair enough, though, Stuart, isn't it. I mean, if

41
00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,560
Speaker 1: you're earning two point five million plus, you've stopped counting,

42
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:14,960
Speaker 1: haven't you.

43
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,640
Speaker 2: I'd be very surprised if a bank, a senior bank

44
00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 2: executive wasn't interested in to the dollar and how much

45
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:25,080
Speaker 2: they paid.

46
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,120
Speaker 1: Really Okay, Stuart, thank you, I appreciate it. Well, good

47
00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:29,919
Speaker 1: luck with the rest of the banking inquiry. I'm looking

48
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,600
Speaker 1: forward to the juicy stuff. That's Stuart Smith, National MP

49
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,600
Speaker 1: and Chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee. For more

50
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,960
Speaker 1: from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive Listen live to news Talks.

51
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,200
Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

52
00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:43,280
Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.