BNZ’s economics ‘below par’

Press, 31 January 1989, Page 6

BNZ’s economics ‘below par’

PA Wellington The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, said yesterday that he shared marketplace concerns that the economic performance of the Bank of New Zealand has been “below par.” But Mr Lange "hastened to add” his concern did not extend to the bank’s security. There were some banks which could afford to be “less then par and still be

absolutely rock solid,” he said. “I believe that’s the position of the Bank of New Zealand.” At the week-end, the "Dominion” reported the BNZ would have put aside $6OO million for loan losses since the sharemarket crash. The acting chairman, Mr Rob Campbell, said the bank would have an unsatisfactory profit result for the financial year. At a press conference

yesterday Mr Lange said he did not want to be drawn on whether there should be changes to the BNZ’s board. Asked if he shared the concern of some people in the marketplace that the bank’s economic performance had been below par, Mr Lange said the bank itself had said that and he would not disagree. Meanwhile, the Opposition has called on the BNZ to “come clean” on

its dealings with the troubled Equiticorp group. The Opposition’s Stateowned Enterprises spokesman, Mr lan McLean, said bankers' confidentiality was an important principle but when a customer went into liquidation the bank’s own interests became important. “The BNZ owes it to shareholders and other customers to remove the uncertainty and speculation,” he said.