WELLINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) said on Tuesday it was expanding its regulatory resources with a new standalone enforcement department focusing on compliance in the banking, insurance and anti-money laundering sectors.
The new department and the bank’s separate supervision team will work closely to achieve compliance goals, RBNZ said in a statement.
“The Enforcement Department will support the Bank’s more intensive supervisory and enforcement approach and help the bank promote a sound and efficient financial system built on integrity, innovation and inclusion,” said Deputy Governor Geoff Bascand, who will be leading the department.
The new department is developing the bank’s enforcement framework, including establishing an enforcement committee which will oversee enforcement actions for serious or repeated breaches of regulatory requirements, Bascand said.
It will work closely with the different supervision teams across the range of regulated entities in the banking, insurance and anti-money laundering sectors in tracking compliance breaches, the bank said.
RBNZ has recently reprimanded some of the country’s top lenders on compliance issues. Last month, it called out Westpac’s New Zealand unit saying the bank had, for years, operated outside of its own risk settings for technology, and would have to get two independent reviews to address concerns around its poor governance.
(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
Source: Reuters