Foreign-owned banks rip millions from NZ - Voxy

The latest round of obscene profit snatching by foreign-owned banks is further proof that the Government must use New Zealand owned banks for all Crown and Local Government banking.

Rt Hon Winston Peters says much of the record $914 million net profit made by our major banks for the three months ending June would head overseas.

"The Government must act with urgency to ensure all Crown-banking goes through New Zealand-owned banks.

"This sensible measure would see a much larger percentage of profits stay in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders."

Mr Peters says banks' profits - the larger ones are Australian-owned - were up an obscene 45 per cent over the previous quarter.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars in bank profits, along with 54,000 talented job-seeking Kiwis, are heading to Australia every year.

"What we have here is a syphoning of our wealth out of the country and National is doing nothing about it.

"John Key and his ragtag band of incompetent MPs should hang its collective head in shame," says Mr Peters.