Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Bank governor says Norman making misleading comments

Updated at 10:56 pm on 6 December 2012

The Reserve Bank governor has fought back against allegations from Green Party co-leader Russel Norman that he had misled MPs on the issue of bank profitability.

Graeme Wheeler and his officials told Parliament's Finance and Expenditure select committee on Thursday that it is Dr Norman that is making misleading comparisons by claiming that local banks are making world-beating profits.

Dr Norman earlier this week said the new governor had misled MPs on the committee in November when he said that the local banks were under-performing compared with banks in developed countries.

Mr Wheeler said that might not be the case for comparisons with OECD countries, but compared with banks in Asia and outside the bombed-out countries of Europe, local banks were not in the top tier of performers.

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