Kiwibank Limited is a subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise New Zealand Post Limited, New Zealand Superannuation and the Accident Compensation Corporation. Kiwibank provides some of its banking services through its PostShops (post offices) and more recently through financial services only branches as well. Kiwibank is owned by the New Zealand government and the company's Board of Directors was chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger from 2001â€"2010. The current Chairperson of the Board of Directors is Susan Macken.
History
Get up and running with Kiwibank - Congratulations on having joined Kiwibank! This video takes you through what happens next. We'll cover everything you need to know including how long everything takes, what forms you'll need...
Earlier state-owned banks
Kiwibank is similar in many respects to an earlier post office-based bank owned by the New Zealand government. The New Zealand Post Office Bank was established in 1867. In 1987, the bank was corporatised and separated from New Zealand Post and Telecom New Zealand to form a stand-alone company â€" PostBank. Then in 1989 PostBank was sold by the government to ANZ.
Establishment
The bank originated from Alliance Party policy during the 1999â€"2002 term of the Labour-led coalition government.
Jim Anderton revealed in his valedictory speech that after the issue had previously been discussed by cabinet for months, he had spent three hours trying to convince then Finance Minister Michael Cullen, Annette King told Cullen: "Michael, Jim's beaten back every argument against the bank we've ever put up. For God's sake, give him the bloody bank." Cullen replied: "Oh, all right then."
Kiwibank launched in 2002 with 211 branches open nationwide by 30 June.
Continuing operation
2004
The number of Kiwibank branches had increased by 16 to 301.
2006
Kiwibank acquired a 51 per cent shareholding in New Zealand Home Loans.
2007
One analysis saw Kiwibank as having fostered a new level of competition in banking in New Zealand in terms of lower fees and growth in service. As of 2007, Kiwibank had higher customer-satisfaction ratings than the four large Australian-owned trading-banks.
2008
Kiwibank reported that it was signing up around 300 new organisations and individuals per day (about 2100 per week) as customers. Within the New Zealand financial institution context this is a significant figure: for the four "Big Five" retail banks (ANZ/National Bank (then ANZ National Bank), ASB, Westpac, BNZ), a typical year will result in a 0.2% increase or decrease in market share (deposit and lending values rather than number of customers).
Kiwibank unveiled an advertising campaign, "Join The Movement", which parodied World War II resistance themes. Rival banks, most of them Australian-owned, denounced the advertisements as jingoistic.
2009
Kiwi Group Holdings (KGH) was established as a holding company which owned Kiwibank, Kiwi Insurance Ltd and 76 percent of New Zealand Home Loan Company.
2010
Paul Brock was appointed new Kiwibank Chief Executive after Sam Knowles resigned.
2011
Kiwibank announced an after tax profit of $21.2 million for the year ended 30 June 2011.
2012
KGH purchased Gareth Morgan Investments and the New Zealand Home Loans Ltd. purchase was fully completed.
In 2012 Kiwibank celebrated its ten-year birthday. The advertising campaign used 10-year-old Kiwis pledging what they're standing up for with New Zealand artist Neil Finn agreeing to the use of his song "Can you hear us?" re-recorded by Jeremy Redmore of Midnight Youth. It was the first time the artist had allowed one of his tracks to be used by a commercial entity. The proceeds from the first 20,000 downloads of the soundtrack went to the NZ Music Foundation of which Neil is patron.
The bank released a iPhone mobile banking app, following the rollout of a redesigned Kiwibank website. Standard & Poor lowered Kiwibank's credit rating one level from AA- to A+ (outlook stable) and Kiwibank reported a record after tax profit of $79. million for the year ended 30 June 2012.
2013
Kiwibank launched its "Every Revolution needs a Leader" advertising campaign and announced an after tax profit of $97.1 million for the year ended 30 June 2013.
2014
A new office was established in Hastings, supplementing the core banking services provided in the Wellington Head Office and bringing more than 100 jobs to the Hawke's Bay region. Kiwibank sets up support for its business customers to use Xero's next-gen banking. Kiwibank launched its "Independence" advertising campaign where it "compares itself to anyone who has ever immigrated to New Zealand" and the content site inner.kiwi aimed at "celebrating inspiring Kiwis and sharing tips for everyone."
KGH (includes Kiwibank and associated companies) achieved an after-tax profit of $107 million for the year ended 30 June 2014.
2015
Kiwibank became a panel member in the New Zealand Government Procurement AoG Banking Services solution subcategory Payment Services.
The bank launched a digital collaboration with social media content producer Jamie Curry 'The KB Series'.
KGH achieves after tax profit of $132 million for the year ended 30 June 2015.
2016
The banks first Financial Services only Branch was opened in Hamilton CBD. According to Kiwibank's 2016 annual report continued growth saw the bank account for 12.0% of all New Zealand banking transactions while the bank is the main financial institution for 419,000 of its 1,020,000 account holders. The bank's net profit after taxation to the year ending 30 June was NZD$124 million, down 2.4% on the previous year. The bank's total assets however grew 5.5% to reach NZD$19.4 billion.
Government divestment
In 2016, New Zealand Post announced a successful completion of the sale of 47 percent of Kiwibank to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (25 percent) and the Accident Compensation Corporation (22 percent). The $494 million deal values KGHL at $1,050 million and retains NZ Post as the majority owner of Kiwibank as well as keeping the bank fully New Zealand owned.
2017
A new Kiwibank corporate presence and financial services branch is being built in the Christchurch CBD.
Core business activities
Kiwibank’s core business consists of personal banking, business banking, KiwiSaver and other wealth services.
Kiwibank Personal Banking
Personal banking products and services include home loans, personal loans, credit cards, everyday accounts, savings accounts, investment services and insurance products.
Kiwibank Business Banking
Business Banking products and services include business lending, cheque accounts, credit cards, investments, merchant services, payment services and insurance.
International Services
This includes online and manual international money transfers, foreign exchange and Foreign Currency Accounts and travellers' cheques.
Investments
Kiwibank invested NZ$8m into a 51% shareholding in New Zealand Home Loans, a home loan lender specialising in debt reduction, in June 2006, and increased this in 2008 by a further 25% and took 100% in 2012. New Zealand Home Loans continues to grow offering an alternative to the traditional banking model and have a nationwide network of over 75 franchises.
In 2012 Kiwibank purchased Gareth Morgan Investments (GMI) for an undisclosed sum. In August 2013 GMI reached a milestone of $2 billion funds under management.
Awards
Kiwibank has won the Sunday Star Times/Cannex banking awards, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 for offering the best value across their range of products. It has also won New Zealand's Most Trusted Bank at the Reader's Digest Trusted Brand Awards from 2006 to 2017.
Canstar Awards include:
- Bank of the Year for First Home Buyers 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2015, 2016, 2017
- Best Value Term Deposit Award 2015, 2014, 2016
Other awards won by Kiwibank include:
- Bank of the Year - New Zealand, The Banker, 2009, 2010
- Sunday Star-Times' Bank of the Year, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012
- Global Finance Best Bank in New Zealand 2013
- Supreme Award from the AUT Business School Excellence in Business Support Awards 2013
- Roy Morgan Major Bank of the Year Award 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2015, 2016
In 2015 the Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver Scheme (run by GMI) was awarded the inaugural Consumer NZ People's Choice Award.
Sponsorships
Kiwibank was one of the major sponsors of The Block NZ from 2012 - 2014.
In 2012 it took up sponsorship of the CFA Institute Research Challenge hosted by the CFA Society of New Zealand.
New Zealand's first FinTech Accelerator was set up in 2016 with Kiwibank sponsorship. The Kiwbank FinTech Accelerator three month business growth programme resulted in seven start ups and was also supported by Xero, MasterCard and Microsoft. The businesses were: AccountingPod, Tapi (formally FlatFish), Liberac, Sharesies, Teddy, Wicket and a Xero team.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Kiwibank is the major sponsor of the New Zealander of the Year Awards
A partnership with the children's financial literacy provider Banqer was formally launched in May 2016, setting the one-year goal at 1000 classrooms being sponsored into the programme. This was achieved by April 2017 but the programme continues to grow.
In 2016 Kiwibank announced a partnership with the Predator Free New Zealand Trust and the Department of Conservation (DOC). Kiwibank worked with PFNZ to establish the Kiwibank Predator Free Communities Programme which works with communities wanting to take up the predator-free challenge. The DOC partnership is centered around the Conservation Dogs programme which piloted New Zealand's first specialist conservation dog unit with two full-time dog handlers. At the time there were 80 conservation dogs in New Zealand, 45 of whom find protected species and 35 who find pests.
See also
- List of banks
- List of banks in New Zealand
References
External links
- Official website
- New Zealand Post
- New Zealand Home Loans