11. Question No. 11—Commerce and Consumer AffairsINGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri) to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer AffairsQuestion No. 11—Commerce and Consumer Affairs11. INGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri) to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs: What recent announcement has he made on market studies?Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): Today at 12.30 I announced that the next market study by the Commerce Commission will be into retail banking. Banks play an important role in our economy and in every Kiwi household; New Zealanders deserve to know that they can trust their banks with their finances. Banks have consistently posted high profits over a number of years and Kiwi consumers rightly have questions about that during tough times. There is a strong public interest in ensuring that New Zealand has a competitive banking sector and so I have asked the Commerce Commission to undertake a market study into retail banking today.Ingrid Leary: What will the study cover?Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: The Commerce Commission will have just over a year to look into any matters affecting competition for personal banking services. The study will be able to look at the full range of banking services people take up for personal or household use but it can also narrow its spotlight and dig into certain products or areas if it needs to. It will get an understanding of competition by looking at the structure of the industry any barriers to banks growing or to new banks entering the sector or any other factors affecting competition and it will look at bank profitability.Ingrid Leary: What is the purpose of market studies?Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Market studies are a useful tool to take an in-depth look at markets where competition might not be working well. These studies take around a year to complete and look at the long-term structural issues and barriers to competition that might be driving up prices suppressing innovation or keeping out a bigger range of products services or suppliers. The Government has focused on things that matter to Kiwis in their living costs such as fuel groceries and building supplies—today we add personal banking to that list. Market studies aren't a short-term fix but they do the heavy lifting to determine how to start to address markets that aren't working well enough and we are proud to do that work. Ingrid Leary: When will the results of the study be known?Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: This study will take 14 months and will report back in August 2024 with analysis and recommendations. We will have a clearer idea of the methods the Commerce Commission intends to use and preliminary issues in August this year. But we're not waiting that long to make progress: this week we're also taking our next step in respect of open banking. A draft bill will be released for public consultation and that will help make comparing and switching bank products easier for Kiwibank customers because Kiwis should know that they're well served by their banks and we're doing everything we can to make sure that is the case.Nicola Willis: Why should New Zealanders have any confidence that this market study will be any more effective than the previous market studies into fuel groceries and building and construction materials or is it his position that those studies have delivered transformational change for New Zealand consumers?Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Well that member may be prepared to sit on her hands and do nothing; this Government will not. Later on today that member might want to sit in the House whilst we progress the grocery reform bills that have already seen change. We see third parties entering into the market: we see The Warehouse we see Costco and others. So that member might want to open the paper tomorrow morning and see all of the commentators congratulating this Government on the work it's doing in improving competition across the economy.