Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on BNZ's bid to close Gloriavale accounts

BNZ is set to head back to court tomorrow as part of their ongoing legal dispute with Gloriavale.

If the hearing goes well, the bank could get approval to close the accounts Gloriavale has with BNZ.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny reveals what could come out of tomorrow's case.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now B and Z we need to talk about them
heading to the Court of Appeal tomorrow in a bid
to get permission to close the accounts that Gloria al
has got with them. Jenatib Tranny as the Herald's Wellington
business edits are in with us. Now, how do your name?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey?

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Now, currently A B and Z wants to close them,
but currently there's an injunction that's stopping them from doing that.
Is the court case tomorrow going to resolve that injunction situation?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, that's right. So there is an injunction in place
that is preventing B and Z from closing Gloria Vale's accounts.
Tomorrow there'll be quite quite a big day really for
this in the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal
will decide whether B and Z can get rid of
that injunction and whether B and Z can just close
the accounts or not. Now. If not, then this thing

(00:48):
will carry on and the case will continue to trial
and that trial will figure out, well, does B and
Z have the right to decide who it does business with,
have the right to to get rid of Glory Ofvale
if it thinks Gloria of Oalve doesn't meet its human
rights policy, which is is bean Z's argument, isn't there.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Already a precedent for this stuff? Like I mean, I remember,
if I remember correctly, kee We Bank also deciding not
to bank a whole bunch of businesses that had some
sort of tie in with mining or some some sort
of climate change stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, that was actually with money remitters. That was quite
a few years ago. There was a situation where money
remittance firm took kee We Bank to court because Keepy
Bank wanted to close its accounts because of anti money
laundering laws. Keepy Bank said, well, you know, if we're
going to comply with money laundering rules, we need to
be able to know where the money is coming from

(01:41):
that is coming to the bank and who it's going to.
And with a money remitter, it can be hard to
really know, you know, exactly where that money is coming
from and whether it complies with anti money laundering. So
keep Bank won that case, you know, and the court said, well,
keep Bank, you know, it's a business, it can decide
who it does business with. The legalities with this gloria

(02:04):
of our situation, there's a different legal argument being made,
and it's largely around whether around this human rights policy
that ben Z has. But I mean, I think this
is going to be a really big deal because you know,
Gloria Vale needs a bank to survive, like it has
quite major farming operations, its entire community. You know, it

(02:28):
kind of still needs to operate in the world that
we live in, and you know you need a bank
account for that. No other banks want anything to do
with Gloria Vale. They struggle to get another bank to
bank them back in twenty twenty two when be and
zz It wanted out. So you know, I think that
if Gloria Vale loses this case, it will put its

(02:49):
viability on the line even more. I'm not too sure
who else would want to bank it. And I mean
the broader effects for the financial world quite substantive too.
You know, if banks can decide, if they have more
leeway to decide exactly who their bank and who they
don't bank, because I mean, realistically, you need a bank
to you need someone to bank you to function in

(03:12):
today's society.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah. Yeah, it's almost like it feels like it's bordering
on some sort of a right, isn't it like a
have a right to housing, a right to food, a
right to shelter, a right to a bank account.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, well that's the thing. And you know, for these
people in Gloriavale, they're vulnerable. And if Gloria Vale doesn't
have access to a bank, you know, that affects vulnerable
people in the community. But at the same time, banks
are businesses and they have to comply with pretty strict
rules around money laundering for example, like we talked about

(03:45):
before with Kiev Bank, and also rules around like sanctions
and various environmental and social commitments and so on. And
I mean, Gloria Veil's track record is terrible that there
are court cases going through, you know, in terms of
labor rights and sexual abuse and all sorts of things.
They don't have a clean track record to say the

(04:07):
very least. So you know, I think this is a
really interesting case. It'll be in the Court of Appeal
tomorrow and then I suppose we'll have to wait wait
a while for the judgment to come.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
In here too, right, Hey, Jina, thanks very much, really
looking forward to seeing what they've got to say. It's
genetib Trainey, the Heralds Wellington Business Editor. For more from
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