Survey shows banks are continuing to support farmers

15 December 2015

Survey shows banks are continuing to support farmers

The latest Federated Farmers Banking Survey shows a virtually unchanged level of farmer support for banks over the past three months of low dairy prices, with 80.5% satisfied with banks regarding mortgages compared to 80.7% in August.

The Federation’s second banking survey was conducted in late November as a follow up to the inaugural survey which followed Black Friday in August.

The latest survey also found a slight drop in satisfaction with the communication from banks over their mortgages, from 81.0% to 78.8%, while the percentage of farmers feeling they had come under undue pressure from their bank increasing from 5.5% to 6.4%.

Those seeking support with their budget from an accountant was up from 38.7% to 43.2%, but banks remain the most common source of external advice and assistance on budgeting at 50.7%, up from 49.5%.

“This has been a difficult few months for our farmers, particularly in the dairy industry, so it is extremely pleasing to see the banks are standing by them,” says Federated Farmers National President Dr William Rolleston.

“We’re staring down the barrel of an El Nino summer and it seems there are more difficult months ahead for the dairy industry, so we need these high levels of support to continue.”

New Zealand Bankers’ Association Chief Executive Kirk Hope says that the survey by Federated Farmers once again shows that banks continue to work closely with farmers through continuing difficulties.

“With the potential impact of El Nino, banks are working to ensure farmers are aware of the measures available across the sector, and will continue to provide assistance according to the particular circumstances involved.”

“It’s important that two-way communication occurs and the survey overwhelmingly shows that’s still continuing to happen on the ground. This enables banks to help farmers facing challenges to act early and have a plan and a budget in place, which is what’s needed to get through,” says Mr Hope.

The Federated Farmers Banking Survey was completed by 1,100 farmers around New Zealand.

Survey results can be found here.

ENDS

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