TRUSTEE BANKS TO TRY AGAIN

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30688, 2 March 1965, Page 1

TRUSTEE BANKS TO TRY AGAIN

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, March 1.

The Trustee Savings Banks Association will urge the Government once again to authorise savings banks to operate cheque accounts.

A deputation from the association will meet the Minister of Finance (Mr Lake) next week to discuss financial matters.

The reopening of an application for cheque accounts which the Government rejected last year when it gave trading banks the right to start savings banks—would be high on the agenda for the meeting, said an association officer today.

“We had the appointment arranged before the trading banks announced their new charges for cheque accounts,” he said.

“But their latest move certainly adds force to our application.

“Savings banks have always argued that if trading banks were allowed to enter the

savings field, we should have equal rights to compete in the trading field.” . The Trade Practices Commission should investigate the action of the trading banks in imposing a 4d charge on each entry in a customer’s account, the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nordmeyer) said today.

“It is a concentrated move on the part of all banks and appears to come within the provisions of the Trade Practices Act,” he said. The action of the banks In deciding a uniform charge was surely a matter for the Trade Practices Commission.

Mr Nordmeyer said it was not generally understood that the banks would not only get 4d for debiting the account of the person drawing the cheque, but also another 4d for crediting this amount in the account of the person receiving it

He said Labour would continue to sponsor the right of local trustee savings banks and the Post Office Savings Bank to operate cheque facilities.

“Labour intends bringing the question forward when Parliament meets in late May,” he said.