The Commerce Commission released its final personal banking report on Tuesday, stating that there was little competition in the sector, which was dominated by four Australia-owned banks making high profits.

ANZ New Zealand chief executive Antonia Watson told Morning Report it was true that bank profits in New Zealand were higher than many places overseas.

The head of ANZ says the big banks can’t afford to be New Zealand owned and have to make profits to keep their overseas shareholders happy.

She indicated that in order to keep investing in New Zealand, they had to give shareholders a respectable return.

“We must draw in that foreign capital. We can’t afford to be Kiwi owned, even though I’d really like to be. We lack the $50 billion necessary to acquire the main banks by Kiwis.”

Watson refuted the claim that there was little competition among banks, citing recent decreases in the interest rates associated with home loans.

“There is undoubtedly competition, but is there room for improvement? Yes.”

The Commission’s recommendations were “solid” and Watson said she supported them. The report also said banks had been too slow in developing open banking.

Watson said a lack of regulation was holding things back with open banking. While other countries, including Australia, were further ahead in that space it was because their consumer data rights and regulators had been established years ago, she said.

“We’ve been working really hard on open banking… one of the things we’ve been asking for is regulation. We need that consumer data right that makes it really really clear where the liability sits when we are giving other people our customer’s data and we’d like an accreditation agency that makes it easier for the fintechs to deal with us.”

ASB, BNZ and Westpac declined interviews. Kiwibank also declined, but said it was ready to challenge the big banks.