Adams Amy: Westpac New Zealand Bill — Third Reading 
Adams Amy: Westpac New Zealand Bill — Third Reading 
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AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 I rise to take a call in the third reading debate on the Westpac New Zealand Bill. I believe I have spoken in every debate on the bill as it has passed through the House so I have already said a lot of what I wanted to cover and I do not propose making a long contribution. I will though take the opportunity at the beginning of the third reading debate to acknowledge the previous sponsor of the bill who is also the previous chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee Craig Foss. I have not had a chance yet in the House to congratulate Mr Foss on his promotion to Minister so I will make a comment as we complete the passage of this bill that Mr Foss has sponsored and shepherded though the House. I think he has done an outstanding job in his previous roles in this Parliament. I have every confidence that he will make an equally outstanding contribution in his new role as a Minister. In fact I should refer to him as the Hon Craig Foss; it takes a while to get used to that. 
The Westpac New Zealand Bill oddly enough given its name is not really about Westpac in the most holistic sense. The bill is really about the need—and both previous speakers have certainly touched on this—to ensure that New Zealand has a strong stable banking environment. Certainly the last few years have shown us the importance of that. As the previous speaker has said I think we can all be very grateful actually for the way our banking sector has responded in these very challenging times. Although the banks have responded extremely well through the global economic crisis and have to date responded very well through Canterbury’s own crises I add what is my plea I guess to those “big four” banks and to all the banks in New Zealand that they continue to support Cantabrians as we carry on through our own regional crisis. 
The bill is driven by the Reserve Bank’s local incorporation policy which in this sense is really about ensuring that the systemically important banks the banks that are so big that we need them to be strong and stable are controlled and incorporated locally so that if there is ever any sort of banking crisis the Reserve Bank is able to wrap around those banking organisations and ensure that they are protected for the good of all New Zealanders and continue to provide the service to New Zealand that we expect of them. A part of that local incorporation policy says there is a liabilities cap of $15 billion and if banks are to exceed that cap they need to be based and owned locally by a locally incorporated company. 
The situation with Westpac as Mr Cunliffe has commented is that it is one of the four banks that currently have dual banking registration. The bank has operated to date and will continue to do so as a combination of a branch of the Westpac Banking Corporation which is Australian and Westpac New Zealand which is a locally incorporated body. In 2006 the New Zealand branch of the Westpac Banking Corporation in a bill very similar to the one we have before us had the consumer and retail business banking transferred over to Westpac New Zealand. This bill mirrors that process and adds the institutional banking and financial markets operations to that locally incorporated pool. 
The important thing to get on record—I have said this in previous debates but it is worth repeating—is that this bill in no way will affect anyone who might be listening or reading these debates and who banks with Westpac in New Zealand. It is entirely limited to the institutional banks and even for those organisations the benefit of passing the bill through this House is that there can be a seamless transition that really does not affect customers in any way. I just reiterate to all Westpac customers that the bill will have no effect on them except in the wider sense which is that all New Zealand consumers banking customers and residents can have confidence that because of this bill and bills like it we will continue to have a strong and stable banking environment that the Reserve Bank can step up to can wrap around and can have good prudential oversight of in years to come. 
The bill as I said mirrors what happened in 2006. It is a necessary step forward to ensure that Westpac continues to operate within the liabilities cap of the local incorporation policy. It is a necessary bill; it is the best way to achieve the objectives that the Reserve Bank requires of Westpac. I commend it to the House.