FMA draws a clear line on terms and communications
FMA Head of Enforcement Margot Gatland was direct about what the case represents.
“Financial institutions must ensure their terms and customer communications are accurate and reflect how products work in practice. In this case, BNZ’s representations about how interest was calculated were inconsistent with the actual approach taken, leading to customer harm,” Gatland said in a media release.
BNZ CEO Dan Huggins accepted the FMA’s findings and apologised to affected customers.
“Once we became aware of the issue, we commenced a review, self-reported to the FMA, and took the product off sale,” Huggins said in a media release, adding that all affected customers had been remediated and the bank was committed to preventing similar issues in future.
Gatland acknowledged BNZ’s cooperation throughout the investigation and noted the remediation steps already taken, including updated terms, the withdrawal of the affected accounts from sale in February 2025, and the migration of existing customers to new products.
