Editorial: Time for some real banking solutions

For too long the farming sector has had concerns about the levels of competition, profitability and transparency in rural lending. Concerns about banking have consistently topped the list of issues in Federated Farmers' regular farm confidence survey.

The recently announced inquiry is well placed to shine a bright light on parts of the rural banking system that, until now, have been allowed to operate in the shadows.

Federated Farmers notes that any concerns they had about just how 'rural' this inquiry would be have been well and truly put to bed with these terms of reference.

Everything they hoped to see included is in there, including questions about rural banking competition, transparency mechanisms, credit risk models, and open banking. There are also some very specific questions about the return on capital banks are getting from rural lending and the level of interest rates charged to the sector.

There's also rural accessibility to digital banking services. Rural banking customers are being short-changed with regular bank branch and ATM closures making even basic banking tasks difficult - simple things such as cash withdrawals and deposits, access to personal banking services over loans and mortgages and small businesses having to travel long distances to bank their takings and maintain a cash float.

Figures from the Reserve Bank show that over the past 20 years there has been an up to 45% contraction of bank branch and ATM numbers across New Zealand, leaving 95 towns unbanked and underbanked.

While the trend is to push customers to do more of their banking online or on the phone, for many rural communities, poor digital connectivity remains a big impediment. Farmers have been crying out for a banking inquiry. Over the next four weeks, ensure your submission reaches Parliament. It's time to find some genuine, practical and rapid solutions on rural banking.