Prime Minister Christopher Luxon lashes banks over withdrawal of lending to petrol stations

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon fired a salvo at the chief executives of New Zealand’s largest banks saying it was “utterly unacceptable” that some were withdrawing banking services from businesses like petrol stations and mines. He made the remarks at the same time as delivering a spirited defence of staying in the Paris climate agreement.

He repeated that this was “unacceptable” four times in his remarks, which were made during his weekly interview on Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast.

“I don’t know how much clearer we can be, but certainly we’re losing a lot of patience,” Luxon said.

“If the CEOs are hearing me right now we are incredibly frustrated about it, go back and think about it.”

Luxon said the banks should go back to offering banking services to petrol stations and coal mines. He said these were services New Zealanders relied on and the banks should continue to offer them services.

In recent weeks, media, including the Herald, have reported on BNZ telling companies it would progressively reduce the number of banking services that it offers them as part of a commitment to climate change goals.

“We’ve made it clear in our comments and I hope the bank CEOs are noticing in our language. You’ve got to finance things that Kiwis need and not financing petrol stations or coal companies, those are things that New Zealand needs going forward - big time.

Luxon highlighted efforts to reduce banking services to rural petrol stations as a particular concern, given rural drivers will need a place to fill up their cars.

“Well, we’ve got about 2-3% electric vehicle penetration - it ain’t gonna change in a hurry,” Luxon said.

One of the coalition’s first acts on taking office was to scrap a subsidy scheme for electric vehicles, vastly reducing their popularity with consumers. Figures provided to RNZ by Infometrics economist Brad Olsen showed registrations of new, full battery electric vehicles were down 55% in the year to November 2024 compared to the same time a year earlier, while sales of plug-in hybrids were down 51%.

A slowing economy saw sales of petrol and diesel vehicles plunge too, but by much less, suggesting the withdrawal of subsidies was the main cause of the crash. Petrol vehicle registrations dropped 5% and diesel 22%.

Luxon backed his Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ call to haul bank chairs and chief executives before Parliament’s banking inquiry to answer on the specific issue of de-banking.

“The banks need to realise the public of New Zealand wants a fair and better deal they don’t want this political posturing going on,” Luxon said.

“These are legitimate businesses. If you’re not going to finance a mining company - well, we need critical minerals to actually make the transition to clean energy.”

In response to an earlier Herald story about a coal mine that was having its banking services withdrawn, a BNZ spokesperson said the bank had “committed to exit all lending to thermal coal mining by 2025 and exiting all lending to coal mining by the end of 2030. This approach applies across both BNZ and NAB [National Australia Bank, BNZ’s parent)”.

“We have been very upfront and open with impacted customers, communicating with them early and regularly to ensure they had time to prepare for this change.

“With 27 registered banks in New Zealand, alongside numerous non-bank lenders, and a growing number of fintechs looking to move into the banking services space, customers have significant choice when deciding who to bank with,” the spokesperson said.

Despite his attack, Luxon made a spirited defence of the Government’s backing of the Paris Climate Agreement, which has come under pressure from coalition partners Act and NZ First.

Act Leader David Seymour, speaking for his party, rather than for the Government, floated campaigning on leaving the deal at the 2026 election. NZ First leader Winston Peters has also made sceptical noises.

Luxon said this would not be in New Zealand’s “national interest”.

“We want to grow the economy. Pulling out of Paris is not how you grow the economy. That would punish farmers.

“Large multinational companies, competitive countries from Europe would love to substitute New Zealand products on shelves with European products and that ain’t gonna happen,” he said.

Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the Press Gallery since 2018.