Well, this is it...tenders for my home close at 4PM this afternoon...
If I don't manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat this time, it is only really the end of the beginning. ANZ was so desperate to avoid having its dishonesty exposed by the media it cancelled the auction in favour of an under the table tender.
That won't help it as it only reveals its true colours and reinforces the findings of the FMA and Reserve Bank reports on banking culture and conduct in New Zealand.
If ANZ had been willing to do the right thing, I probably would not have pursued it further. It can still do the right thing.
If ANZ does not do the right thing and continues to compound the harm done by its reckless lending, I will continue to pursue it, to find others that it has treated in the same callous greedy manner, and insist that the Government hold senior ANZ staff like Antonia Watson and David Hisco and board members like Sir John Key accountable. "We didn't know" and "We were only following instructions" are not reason for ANZ's actions. And accountability means making it right for all of ANZ's victims...
The Government needs to bet serious about sorting banking culture and conduct in New Zealand. We can see the sewage that the Australian Banking Royal Commission has uncovered and we would be truly naive to think for a second that the Tasman Sea is any sort of barrier to the same banks doing the same things in New Zealand.
The Banking Ombudsman responded last night to yesterday's complaint with a weak email that was a combination of "we can't" and "when we get round to it". Again, this vital watchdog demonstrated its unwillingness to challenge ANZ even when ANZ is clearly in the wrong and in breach of the Code of Banking Practice.
The Government also needs to introduce a regulatory framework that holds banks like ANZ accountable. The first stage of that is to make the currently weak and ineffective banking ombudsman scheme a Government agency and make it it do its job. Part of this is also enshrining the Code of Banking Practice in law.
Regardless of preferred T-shirt colour "Lets Do This!"