Remember our peddling question yesterday about whether anyone thought about consulting the banks?
OK, it should have been done first - and if it had been done this stuff up may not have occurred - but now feedback is apparently welcome. From the Dominion Post
Some big banks are hoping for changes to the Government's two-year $150 billion deposit guarantee scheme, while finance companies say the scheme may mean lower deposit interest rates.
The scheme was yesterday widened to cover collective investment schemes, including unit trusts and superannuation schemes, which were not explicitly covered when the deposit guarantee was first announced.
Westpac Bank acting chief executive Bruce McLachlan said the Government and Reserve Bank had been "quite receptive" to feedback on aspects of the deposit guarantee scheme which may need changing.
The Government may not want to guarantee wholesale deposits in New Zealand, but because many countries around the world had done so, New Zealand may be forced to do that "ultimately", Mr McLachlan said.
It was up to the Reserve Bank and the finance minister to make any changes to the deposit guarantee scheme, but Mr McLachlan said he did not want to see the scheme fixing some problems but creating even bigger issues.
