Latest / Best of Business / Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on BNZ's bid to close Gloriavale accounts

Transcript

Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on BNZ's bid to close Gloriavale accounts · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed Be
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Now, B and Z we need to talk about them
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: heading to the Court of Appeal tomorrow in a bid
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: to get permission to close the accounts that Gloria al
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: has got with them. Janative Trainy as The Herald's Wellington
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: business editor in with us.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Now, how do your name?
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Hey?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Now, currently a B and Z wants to close them,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: but currently there's an injunction that's stopping them from doing that.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Is the court case tomorrow going to resolve that injunction situation?
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. So there is an injunction in place
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: that is preventing B and Z from closing Gloria Vale's accounts.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Tomorrow there'll be quite quite a big day really for
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: this in the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: will decide whether B and Z can get rid of
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: that injunction and whether B and Z can just close
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the accounts or not. Now. If not, then this thing
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: will carry on and the case will continue to trial,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: and that trial will figure out, well, does bean z
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: have the right to decide who it does business with,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: have the right to get rid of Glory of Vale
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: if it thinks Gloria of Ovalve doesn't meet its human
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: rights policy, which is bean Z's argument.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Isn't there already a precedent for this stuff? Like I mean,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I remember, if I remember correctly, kee We Bank also
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: deciding not to bank a whole bunch of businesses that
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: had some sort of tie in with mining or some
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: some sort of climate change stuff.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was actually with money remitters. That was quite
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: a few years ago. There was a situation where money
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: remittance firm took key Bank to court because Keep Bank
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: wanted to close its accounts because of anti money laundering laws.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Keey Bank said, well, you know, if we're going to
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: comply these money laundering rules, we need to be able
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: to know where the money is coming from that is
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: coming to the bank and who it's going to. And
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: with a money remitter, it can be hard to really know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: you know, exactly where that money is coming from and
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: whether it complies with anti money laundering. So keep We
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Bank one that case, you know, and the court said, well,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: keep We Bank. You know, it's a business, it can
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: decide who it does business with. The legalities with this
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Glory of our situation. There's a different legal argument being made,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: and it's largely around whether around this human rights policy
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: that B and Z has. But I mean, I think
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: this is going to be a really big deal because
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: you know, Gloria Vale needs a bank to survive, like
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: it has quite major farming operations. Its entire community, you know,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: kind of still needs to operate in the world that
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: we live in, and you know you need a bank
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: account for that. No other banks want anything to do
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: with Gloria Vale. They struggle to get another bank to
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: bank them back in twenty twenty two when be and
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: zz it wanted out. So you know, I think that
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: if Gloria Vale loses this case, it will put its
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: viability on the line even more. I'm not too sure
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: who else would want to bank it. And I mean
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: the broader effects for the financial world are quite substantive
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: to you know, if banks can decide, if they have
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: more leeway to decide exactly who they bank and who
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: they don't bank, because I mean, realistically, you need a
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: bank to you need someone to bank you to function
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: in today's society. Yeah.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's almost like it feels like it's bordering on
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: some sort of a right. Isn't it like a have
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: a right to housing, a right to food, a right
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: to shelter, a right to a bank account.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well that's the thing. And you know, for these
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: people in Gloriavale, they're vulnerable. And if Gloria Vale doesn't
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: have access to a bank, you know, that affects vulnerable
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: people in the community. But at the same time, banks
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: are businesses and they have to comply with pretty strict
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: rules around money laundering for example, like we talked about
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: before with kiwibank, and also rules around like sanctions and
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: various environmental and social commitment and so on. And I mean,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Glory of Ail's track record is terrible. There are court
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: cases going through, you know, in terms of labor rights
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: and sexual abuse and all sorts of things. They don't
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: have a clean track record, to say the very least.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: So you know, I think this is a really interesting case.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: It'll be in the Court of Appeal tomorrow and then
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: I suppose we'll have to wait wait a while for
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: the judgment to come.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: In here too, right, Hey, Jina, thanks very much, really
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: looking forward to seeing what they've got to say. It's
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: genetive Trainey the Heralds Wellington Business Editor.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: For more from news talks at b listen live on
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcasts on Irradio