RBNZ Urged to Make Changes to Bolster Banking Competition

New Zealand’s central bank should establish a prudential policy committee and appoint new board members with bank regulation expertise, according to a recommendation from a parliamentary inquiry into banking competition.

Changes at the Reserve Bank are among a raft of suggestions from the Finance and Expenditure Committee inquiry report released Friday. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the government will provide a response by November.

Nicola Willis in New York on Aug. 14.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

The committee conducted a lengthy inquiry to address concerns that the banking market was an oligopoly that inflicted higher interest costs on customers, particularly business and rural borrowers, and was holding back economic growth. Banking ...