Wednesday, 05 June 2024 12:55

Bankers!

Written by The Hound

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OPINION: At a recent speaking engagement, Brendan Lindsay, cashed-out founder of Sistema Plastics opined that in his experience “banks are real fair-weather friends”.

Maybe when you’re sitting on a $600 million pile, you can afford to risk upsetting the lending set, but more than a few farmers seem to agree with the sentiment.

In the latest Federated Farmers bank survey they added a new question: ‘Do you think New Zealand banks are presently demonstrating a positive commitment to support farming through difficult periods of high interest rates?’

Feds’ Richard McIntyre says it’s “incredibly disappointing” that only one in five farmers responded with a ‘yes’ to that question.

“At a time when farmers are really struggling, I would have hoped to see our banks stepping up to help, but instead they seem to be tightening the screws.”

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