Are there any ethical banks in NZ?

[K&J]

In the UK I've got my mortgage and accounts with The Co-operative Bank as I like their ethical policy. Is there a similar bank in New Zealand?

[Nick88]

Closest is probably the Taranaki Savings Bank, a very highly thought of firm.

[jackthesam]

Not sure about Taranaki Savings Bank... Okay, it's the smallest bank in New Zealand, and as it's the only one apart from the Government-owned Kiwibank which is New Zealand-owned, it's kind of flavour of the month. I've no doubt that as they grow, they will be exactly like all the other banks.

If you're looking for an ethical banking service, I'd recommend PSIS -- www.psis.co.nz. Because they are a cooperative, they're not allowed to register as a bank, so they are properly is a "non-bank deposit taker". I just love their slogan, though: "PSIS is not a bank but a very cooperative cooperative"!

In my opinion they're utterly ethical because they only lend to individuals and families and not to business at all, they simply don't do business banking. Being small, there don't have as many branches as the banks, but in this day and age with internet banking, txt banking and cash machines, how often do you actually need to go to a branch? I rate them.

Being a cooperative with no shareholders to feed dividends to, they actually pay marginally more for your savings and charge marginally less for loans.

For ethical investments, there's a small finance company called Prometheus which does this kind of thing. I think they're safe, but who knows...

[K&J]

Thanks that's really helpful. I checked out the Taranaki Savings Bank's website and there is no mention of being ethical in their investments, their selling point seems to be purely based on being NZ owned.

Will follow up on PSIS.

Karin

[wanderingoregonian]

I think that TSB is limited to people who live in that region...

We've been impressed with PSIS so far... pretty good rates too.