Should financial institutions be required to provide financial services to customers unless they can show a legal basis or valid and verifiable commercial grounds for refusing?
This Member's bill amends the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Act 2022 to impose a duty on financial institutions to provide financial services to customers, with refusal permitted only where based on law or on valid and verifiable commercial grounds.
MPs’ arguments for and against the bill
Why support it
Supporters argued that access to banking is essential for participating in the economy and that businesses denied services may be unable to operate, affecting their suppliers, communities, and the wider economy.
Supporters said banks should not refuse services on non-commercial grounds such as environmental, moral, or cultural views, and that decisions to end an industry should be made transparently by Parliament rather than by banks.
Supporters contended that several lawful industries — including coal mining, agriculture, and petrol stations — report being refused or losing finance for climate-related reasons, and that the bill would require banks to show valid, verifiable financial-risk grounds.
Why oppose it
Opponents and commentators cited in the debate, including law firms Russell McVeagh and Chapman Tripp, argued the bill may be unworkable in its current form because climate change can pose genuine commercial risks that are hard to distinguish from non-commercial ones.
Members noted the difficulty of determining whether banks' lending decisions are legitimate commercial judgments or non-commercial moralising, suggesting the bill's distinction needs close scrutiny at select committee.
Members pointed out that questions remain over whether debanking is actually occurring at scale and over how the proposed penalty regime and obligations would operate in practice.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
Full bill summary & link to official bill page
A member's bill that would put a legal duty on banks and other financial institutions to provide services to customers, instead of being free to turn people away. An institution could refuse or withdraw a service only where the law requires it, or where there is a 'valid and verifiable commercial' reason. It targets so-called 'debanking' — when a customer is denied banking or has an account closed.
Introduced by NZ First MP Andy Foster, it would amend the 2022 conduct-of-institutions law. In practice it aims to stop institutions refusing service over things like a customer's lawful industry or environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Supporters say it protects lawful businesses and individuals from being unfairly cut off; critics, including banks, say firms should be able to choose their customers and that the broad 'commercial reason' exemption could make the duty toothless.
Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment (Duty to Provide Financial Services) Amendment Bill · First Reading, 21 May 2025 Parliament voted 68–55 — it passed.